Axl Rose, the lead singer of Guns and Roses, wore a T shirt with a depiction of a crucified Jesus with the caption – Kill Your Idol. Blasphemy aside, this was actually a profound statement.  It takes a bit of work but you can see the message.

The late minister Tim Keller wrote a book called Counterfeit Gods examining the topic of idolatry.  Insightful and recognizes the very real power that idols can have.  Keller writes that the heart is an idol making factory.  Anything, anyone, everything, and everyone can be an idol – even things considered good and beautiful like religion, children, a noble job, so on and so forth.

Anything other than God.

If all this sounds too pious, I refer you to Neil Gainan’s novel American Gods, which narrates a story about ancient and modern gods.  Some of them are really fucked up.  And that wasn’t for fiction’s sake. It’s also the truth.

I remember reading an account of the death of comedian Chris Farley.  A truly funny and tragic figure who dealt with so much, he dies alone amidst drug abuse and such.  The article quoted him as hauntingly saying – at some point, your demons leave you alone.  I thought that reference to being alone had a double meaning as in he wasn’t affected anymore or he was left isolated.  Either way, it wasn’t good.

I’ve written about this previously – how a mentor taught me how many people have a price they will sell out for.  And that is a pretty accurate indicator of what your primary idol is.  The solution is difficult and it is surrender.

The well known account of Abraham being asked by God to sacrifice his son Isaac is illustrative.  This wasn’t about child sacrifice or even really a test of faith but in my view, an important lesson and gift for Abraham.  By being willing to give up the person he probably loved the most, he also removed or limited the potential of treating his son as the most important thing in his life.  That, while sounding pretty benign, would not have ended well.  I won’t pontificate about overly focusing on your own children because I have to be careful of that one but suffice to say, there can be consequences. 

All applicable to the rest.  If you can’t control it, it will control you eventually.

Kill your idol.

Or it will kill you.