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I was reading Scripture with my family this past week and came across a passage in Matthew: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight” (Matthew 3:3). And it brought up some questions. What does it look like to clear the road of any of my wants that might get in the way of His wants? What does it look like to clear the road of anything that might be a distraction from my affections landing rightly upon Jesus?
That led to a really special time in my family of an inventory of some of the potential idols we have in our hearts that are beckoning to us, and that, if we’re not careful, we may become enslaved to. It was good even for out little girls to talk about, because there are so many things that can distract us from our true love.
The Apostle Paul describes the process of idolatry as exchanging “the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” (Romans 1:23). It’s the idea of taking the glory of God, our worship of God, and putting it upon lesser things that are earthly things – things God made for us to enjoy – but worshiping those things over God Himself. Even good things, as good as family or marriage or particular hobbies we enjoy, that are good things and common graces the Lord has given us, can become idols, because humans have this way of transitioning things in our hearts to be something more important than they really are.
The Bible tells us, “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them” (Psalm 135:15-18). These inanimate things cannot give life and do not have life, and we actually become like the idols we worship when our hearts drift to those lesser things.
Jonah 2:8 says, “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love,” meaning we have a steadfast love that is in God. We have an immovable love that is in God. But when we put our trust in these vain, empty idols, we’re actually forsaking that steadfast love, trading it for a lesser love that isn’t immovable, but is constantly changing and constantly disappointing.
Paul explains how to go about forsaking those idols, saying, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). Stop settling on these vain, lesser things and exchanging God for them. Put those things to death. And Hebrews 13 says, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5). Idols make promises, but they don’t deliver. God says, “I do deliver, so keep your lives free from those things because they will forsake you. I won’t. Let your affections fall on me.”
Hebrews 12:2 says to let us fix our eyes on “Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Let us fix our eyes on Jesus Christ, the almighty enthroned God, and not on these lesser things.
Going through these passages was a time of confession for my family and for myself. It was a time to identify distractions that are allowing my affections to fall on lesser things, and it allowed me to simply let go of my wants for His wants.
And so I encourage you to set aside a few minutes and ask yourself what you can clear out of your path to make the way straight for the Lord. Ask yourself what idols in your life need to be put to death,[1] things that need to be exposed that you may not have given names to yet. And then take some time to pray through the Scriptures above. Do a little inventory to clear the road so Christ may have the proper place in your life.
[1] A helpful resource for this is “20 Questions to Identify Potential Heart Idols in Your Life” from Timothy Keller’s Counterfeit Gods.