What is the focus of my mind’s attention and the object of my heart’s affection? If it is anything less than Jesus, then I have been misled by an idol that will fall short of every expectation I’ve ever even imagined.
Kelly Minter poured out her heart in some of the most authentic writing I’ve encountered in her newest release No Other Gods. Kelly has written several Bible studies and is a well-known songwriter. Her book is a powerful reminder that my life has been redeemed by the lamb of God and that settling for anything less is mere foolishness.
I hope that reading this book has given me clarity in how to avoid the trap of approval addiction and the need for accolades from those whose opinion really doesn’t matter in the scope of eternity.
I’ve pasted several things below that I highlighted while reading…
- Never does he slumber; he is always working on this recycling theme: No gods before God. It’s the first of the Ten Commandments and one of the most fundamental tenets of the Christian faith.
- John Calvin put it similarly: “The evil in our desire typically does not lie in what we want, but that we want it too much.”
- To clear out the idols in my life, not for the sake of legalism but for a much grander purpose: to make room for the God of gods to dwell. To see him do more than I could ask or think—more than a rock statue or a husband or a martini could ever provide.
- We all claimed God as our God, but we had been serving lesser things.
- God was getting my worship on some level, but my gods were getting my service.
- Ken Sande put this way: “An idol is not simply a statue of wood, stone, or metal; it is anything we love and pursue in place of God, and can also be referred to as a ‘false god’ or a ‘functional god.’ In biblical terms, an idol is something other than God that we set our hearts on (Luke 12:29; 1 Cor. 10:6), that motivates us (1 Cor. 4:5), that masters or rules us (Ps. 119:133), or that we serve (Matt. 6:24).”
- Too often we profess God but look to everything else to function as him. Even perfectly good things. Things that in and of themselves are pure and right and gifts from God but have become a problem simply because of the placement they have in our lives.
- Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, poignantly says, “Idolatry is attached to everything. All of our bitterness, all our impurity, all our malice, all of our problems, everything that troubles us is a result of idolatry. And what is idolatry? It’s taking a good thing and making it an ultimate thing.”
- As Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:4, God “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
- Isaiah 46:5, 9 says, “To whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared? … I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.”
- Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
- “Do you love God?”
- “Do you know that God loves you?”
- As 1 John 3:1 so beautifully puts it, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!”
- The last few years have been a boot camp in learning to dialogue and seek the Lord when—I can’t believe it—people aren’t meeting my needs.
- It matters little if you have it all or if you have less—without Christ, wholeness is but a fantasy.
- How deeply duped I have been by the Father of Lies—the one who prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone he can devour (1 Peter 5:8). Peter encourages us to be of a sober mind, on the alert, so as not to be taken by such deceptive devices. And unlike the secretive world of magic, Scripture is happy to expose the illusions of our most deceptive idols. It is the inspired text of God, written so that we might have the truth, and that such truth would set us free.
- When I think of the lies that I am prone to embrace, I realize that many of them begin as questions.
- If the lies of our idols attach us, the “trues” of our idols will absolutely devastate us. I suppose that is why God pleads with us to know the truth. Jesus says God’s Word is truth (John 17:17). Though our struggle with lies and deception and false gods can at times be convoluted and entangling, the only effective tactic I have ever discovered is very simply the truth.
- Much like jealousy, fear is a great sign pointing toward who or what we are placing our hope in. The same goes for anger.
- Hebrews 4:15–16 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses.… Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
- I have never been more experientially aware of my desperate need to live as a child of promise than I have over the last few years. As I found myself bound by the need to secure affection and approval at the expense of all else, I realized that I couldn’t snap myself out of such dependency without the power of Christ. This is the New Covenant that Paul is referring to: No longer do I have to strive by the legalism of Hagar; I can live by the promise of Sarah—the promise that comes through the indwelling life of Christ.
- Being a Christian is hard primarily because it requires a death to ourselves.
- If you are in a season where God is dealing with your idols, I hope you will take the full course. Don’t despise it.
- Let him have his way, let him do his sweet work in you. It is not for reckless unkindness but for the beautiful process of transforming you into the image of Christ. Receive his discipline, not as rejection, but as chosen affection.
- Has God heard you? Have you carried your Ishmael to him? I’m not talking about your Isaac, but your Ishmael. Carried the product of your will, the consequence of your unbelief, the child of your rebellion? The idol of your heart? Have you admitted to God your deep affection for the things not born of his promise? The things you love to love but are afraid might not be able to exist before him. Have you cried out from the depths of your heart, “If only _____ might live under your blessing!”Read more at location 2116Isaiah 43:18–19: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”
- I pray you’ve found it time to say good-bye to the small gods who pretend to wield great power, and you’re expectantly waiting for God’s sweet hello. No other god can compare.