Prey to Idols

Several years ago I belonged to a Bunco group. For those readers who are unfamiliar with Bunco, it's a simple dice game that involves twelve players. I'm sure every group has its own variations, but our group met once a month and distributed prizes at the end of play based on individual scores. It was a fun game until I fell prey to idols.

My Bunco group was organized so that our evening began with refreshments and social time followed by a couple of hours of rolling dice. At the end of the evening, we tallied our scores and prizes were distributed. The prizes became my idol.

It got to the point that I not longer enjoyed socializing and instead, obsessed over my score card all evening. If I didn't win anything at the end of the evening I would drag myself home looking and feeling like a loser! It was pathetic.

Then one day I experienced a winning streak that lasted for five months! I was in Bunco heaven or, at least, I thought I was. Unfortunately, winning seemed to make the beast inside of me grow...the more I won, the bigger my obsession became.

The interesting thing is that in the months leading up to my winning streak, I had been feeling prompts to drop out of the group. I wondered if God was giving me those feelings, but I didn't give it much thought and when the winning streak hit, I wasn't about to quit! Why mess up a good thing? But, God had other plans.

One day during my daily Bible reading time I came to the story of the rich young man in Matthew 19:22. The gist of the story is a rich young man asks Jesus what he must do, beyond the basics, to have eternal life. Jesus answers the young man by telling him to sell all his possessions. The young man went away sad because he had fallen prey to the idol of wealth and would not abandon it.

The story reminded me a little of my Bunco winning streak but, I brushed any similarities aside until I realized I had been reading in the wrong place in the Bible. You see, I was reading through the Bible and had started in Genesis. I was going in order through the books and wasn't even halfway through the Old Testament. I had mistakenly turned to the New Testament book of Matthew...a long way from where I had left off the day before. I'm convinced that God veiled my eyes and caused my fingers to open up the story of the rich young man because the subtle hints He had been sending my way were not yielding any results. I could no longer ignore God's desire for me to leave the Bunco group and I dropped out that day.

Anything that comes between us and God (or godly actions and attitudes) is an idol. I had twisted an innocent evening with friends into a selfish desire to win. Idols come in all shapes and sizes and my idol was prizes. This unhealthy attitude caused me to neglect meaningful fellowship with a great group of ladies and trade it for a couple of hours of obsessing over a scorecard. What a lousy trade off.

Did you know that Christians make lousy trade offs like that every day? I know because I've done it more than once; Bunco is just one example from my life. I've not had any "terrible" idols, but even the smallest idol is dangerous if it adversely affects us or our walk with God. I've had idols like Dr. Pepper, bitterness, and Bible study. Those may sound harmless, but even small things can cause a lot of damage. Dr. Pepper had such a hold on me that it became like an addiction. But I gave up my favorite drink, cold turkey, when I ended up on a heart monitor. I discovered that I am sensitive to caffeine and chest pains are a natural consequence if I ingest too much of the carbonated drink. Tens years later I'm back to drinking the ambrosia of my life, but on a limited and controlled basis.

As for bitterness, it was all about attitude. Mainly in youth sports, but also during my stint as PTO president at my son's elementary school. I learned that my ungodly attitude not only came between God and me, but it tainted my witness to others.

 And lastly, Bible study. You may wonder how a legitimate pursuit of God can be bad; I'm here to tell you it can. I fell in love with the Bible when my two sons were preschoolers. I developed a voracious appetite for God's Word and feasted on it at the expense of my kids. I would get mad at them whenever they interrupted my study time. It didn't take long for me to realize I was doing a disservice to my children and God. My kids weren't going to want any part of a God who turned their mother into a raving lunatic. I changed my study habits and started representing God appropriately. Sometimes, spiritual idols are the hardest to identify because, after all, they involve godly pursuits.

Several years after quitting my original Bunco group I helped organize a new one. Over time, God had helped me develop a healthier attitude toward prizes and I was ready to enjoy an evening of Bunco with a renewed outlook. Don't get me wrong, I still love to win, but I've matured and the enjoyment of fellowship and playing the game has replaced my obsession to run home with a prize.

Do you have any idols in your life? I know there are more serious idols than what I've experienced, but we can never overlook even the smallest of idols. Even the most harmless pursuits can become dangerous if we don't have balance or some sense of control. In First Corinthians 6:12 Paul writes:

" 'All things are lawful for me,' but not all things are beneficial.
'All things are lawful for me,' but I will not be dominated by anything.' "

I encourage you to meditate on these words and identify anything in your life that could be dominating you. Sometimes addressing those issues means we need to completely remove them from our lives and sometimes we just need to make a few adjustments in order to find a healthy balance.

Practical Christianity isn't afraid to confront idols and it partners with God to overcome hindrances in our spiritual walk. Be brave and learn to overcome our propensity to become "prey to idols."

 

(c)2008 Shona Neff

Comments

[Lucy Ann Moll]

Thanks, Shona, for a reminder that good things can take the place of the best. This is idolatry.
We each have idols of the heart. Do you know yours? Do I know mine?
After much soul-searching, I discovered (and chose to "hear" God) that my primary idol was people-pleasing so I wouldn't be/feel rejected. Now why was I looking to people for affirmation that only God can give?
Good question.
I finally recognized my unbelief. Though a Christian, down deep I doubted God's goodness. This sounds crazy, I know.
Do you know what's crazier? Sometimes I still do -- even though He has always been and will be faithful and good.