Good Idolarty???

[b]Good Idolatry?[/b]

When most people think of idolatry they think of someone worshiping a statue or an idol of a false God, but in actuality idolatry can be anything that we focus on more than Jesus or takes our focus away from God and Jesus Christ. I have found in my Christian walk the devil constantly trying to get me to take my focus away from Christ and having Christ formed in me or becoming more Christ like, not with the worship of physical idols, the things of this world or graven images, but with things that are good things of God. Yes, even good things can become idols of a sort when they take our focus off of Christ. For example, I have even seen such good things as holiness become an idol of sorts for people, and yes holiness is essential for without it no man shall see the Lord. So one may ask, “How could something as important, essential and good as holiness become a sort of idol in ones life?” It is simple as this – all good things of God come from Christ and flow naturally from Him. If we desire, hunger and thirst after holiness we MUST seek after Christ and Christ being formed in us. Instead, sad to say many seek after the fruit instead of seeking after and abiding in the vine, which is Christ, and having the fruit produced naturally from the vine.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (Joh 15:4-5)

I have seen first hand the devil trick wonderful and true servants of God into “going after” holiness to such a degree and with such fervor that they completely lost focus of Christ, and brought forth nothing except condemnation, legalism, self righteousness and despair –just like Jesus said “for without me ye can do nothing”. Holiness became an idol and far surpassed Christ and the saddest thing is, if these dear friends, of which many now do, would have sought solely after Christ and Christ being formed in them with just half the fervor they sought after holiness they would have been some the most holy and Christ like people on earth. The devil is a liar and will even use the good things of God to draw us into forms of idolatry and to take our focus off of Christ.

I believe if we really examine ourselves with an open heart we will see that the devil has used many things to draw our focus away from Christ and put it on other things. Here is a list of some things the devil gets us to “go after” or hunger and thirst after more then we go after and hunger and thirst after Christ from which all of these things naturally flow. Which one of these things have you sought after more then Christ? I personally and to my own shame have my hand raised to many of these –

Revival
Ministry
Anointing
Prayer
Signs and Wonders
Worship
Church
Evangelism
Preaching
Preachers
Doctrine
Theology
Gifts
Tongues
Healing
Deliverance
The Prophetic
Holiness

All of these things are good things of God, but I have seen all these things become idols in the sense that they draw the main focus of good Christians off of Christ and on to these other things. Am I saying that we should disregard these things or not focus on them at all – GOD FORBID! But what I am saying is that when we focus on Christ and Christ being formed in us and go after that with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength then the fruits of these things will flow naturally from our lives. Think about it for a moment – all these things come from Christ. Where does revival come from? Christ! How about anointing? Anointing comes from Christ, which means “The anointed One”. How about prayer? Who makes intercession day and night? If we desire any of these things, which are good things to desire, whether it be revival, holiness, ministry, anointing or a better prayer life then what we need is Christ and Christ being formed in us and to go after that with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. You see the devil loves to get us to seek after the by-product instead of the prime-product. Christ is the prime-product all of these other things are by-products of Christ being formed in us.

If the devil has tricked you as he has me, into seeking after or putting any of things before Christ and Christ alone, then we simply need to turn our focus back on to Christ. The hour is late and the time is short in this dark and dismal hour in which we live and I would like to encourage and exhort all of my Christian brothers and sisters to put their focus on Christ and Christ alone – be encouraged to seek after Christ and Christ being formed in you my friends with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength and all of these other things will flow naturally as grape appear on a grapevine or apples appear on an apple tree – let us abide in The Vine and watch Him produce the fruits of these things for us!

God bless,

Patrick Ersig
www.revivalarmy.com

Patrick,

I would add to this list "Approval of men". This includes how I would interpret the scriptures; approval of what I do: "what would people say?"

Basically, I would guess there is very little that cannot be idolized.

Appreciate the sentiments shared, brother.

ginnyrose

Your right - just about anything can become an idol from TV to sports to "approval of men" - the thing with me is that I have seen good things become idols rather then worldly things like the above mentioned. I think in many cases the enemy has used my zealousness to serve God against me getting me to "go after" good things but in turn lose focus on Christ which is perfect. I believe there are many young and old zealots who can benefit from the knowledge of this trick of the enemy and if they can keep their main first and foremost focus on Christ they would be much more effective in service to God and advancement of His kingdom.

Patrick

www.revivalarmy.com

… the devil loves to get us to seek after the by-product instead of the prime-product.

Abraham’s beloved son, Isaac had not become an idol to him. When God required the sacrifice, Abraham was willing to surrender him, trusting that God would fulfill his promise.

Many of God’s people have walked through the death of their God-given vision: that is, the complete death of the very ministry or ability that God had promised to them. Then God would raise it up in new ways – in his time, in his power - not in natural ability.

May God help us to be willing to accept this kind of death.

Diane

It is virtually impossible to know if any of these good things have become an idol to us.

For me one way I can tell is by looking at what I hunger and thirst after or "go after" more. What do I focus or concentrate more on - Christ and becoming more Christ like and Christ being formed in me or on any of these other "good" things. If the answer is these other "good" things then to me personally they have become a sort of idol because they have taken my focus off of Christ and put it onto something else.

However, testings reveal our heart. When our cherished loves are threatened, our responses betray our hearts. Defensiveness, self-justification, anger, anxiety, etc are tell-tale signs.

I agree - this is absolutely a sure fire way to tell - testing from God brings the motives of our heart to light.

Patrick
www.revivalarmy.com

When I think of the things I have idolized, I can clearly see how God worked to destroy my excessive appreciation of this object. I used to idolize my preacher-grandfather: he was a wonderful grandfather. And not only that, he was fun and an excellent preacher behind the pulpit. I compared all preachers' delivery against his'! But God had me see one day the humaness of grandfather which knocked him clean off that pedestal I had placed him on. I still love him but am grateful God loved me enough to purge me of this sin.

Anyhow, this has been my experience for whatever it is worth..might not be much except to say that God will work to cleanse us from whatever defiles if we allow him to and that is where the rub occurs.

Blessings,
ginnyrose