How to Eradicate Idolatry and Move into God’s Best in One Simple Step
One of the most fun adventures I’ve had this year with God is when we take the dog for a walk.
“Where are we going today?” I ask God, and it’s usually one of two answers: pond or sosban. Both shorthand for two of our regular routes.
Sometimes, I might have a little back and forth debate with Holy Spirit about His suggestion but He always gets His way, mostly because of the history of fun adventures we’ve built up over time.
Like the time we went “sosban” and ended up calling into one of the offices on the way to the beach and, as a result, I made a new friend and left feeling totally blessed.
Or the time we went “pond” and I had the opportunity to pray for a lovely gent called Carl and his incurable degenerative disease. (As an aside, feel free to join me in continuing to pray for Carl. I bumped into him a few weeks after our first meeting and he’s not cured, yet.)
Or another time we went “pond” and I ended up chatting for over half an hour with another new friend who described himself as an atheist. Based on the things he was saying, I could tell he loves Jesus and he admitted that yes, he’s been baptized. It’s church he doesn’t “believe” in after the way he was treated during the darkest time in his life. His Creator is clearly speaking to him.
I could go on, but hopefully you get the idea. As we explore “Surrender” this month, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of making it something metaphorical or too much in our own heads but, as I hope my dog walks with Holy Spirit demonstrate, Jesus isn’t interested in metaphorically walking with you. You can take Him very literally!
The other trap we sometimes fall into is thinking that this is the reserve of “ultra holy people” or folks in ministry. “I’m just little ol’ me”, you’d be forgiven for thinking. What kind of difference can I really make in my ordinary, day to day life?
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
~ Romans 12:1+2 MSG
You make a huge difference! Every time you show up and move through your day with God, hearing the nudges and acting on them, fully embracing the work of art He created you to be, you are impacting the world, advancing the Kingdom, in ways you won’t always see.
The beautiful thing about moving with God is that if you genuinely move through the day in step with Jesus, it is impossible to fall into idolatry. Why? Because if idolatry is looking to or celebrating something or someone other than God to supply your needs, there’s simply not enough space at the top for anything or anyone else if God’s already there, meeting with you moment by moment.
Idolatry is one of those old-fashioned sounding words that we can all too easily chalk up as being for a “different time” but every and any time I choose to eat a packet of chocolate biscuits because I’m bored, I’m guilty of idolatry. In that moment I’m looking to food to comfort me and relieve boredom - and that’s simply not what food was ever created for!
What if, instead, I navigated the whole chocolate biscuit drama with God, allowing Him to relieve my boredom and comfort me? Yes, it sounds like a daft example but we call it “comfort eating” for a reason. God wants to be your comfort and anything that gets in the way of that is a potential idol.
Food might not be your weakness but no matter where you personally struggle, rather than running from the things we’re fearful of placing ahead of God, what if we instead focused on running to the One who loves to do life with us?
If it’s impossible to fall into idolatry when you walk in step with God, moving moment by moment empowered by Holy Spirit, why would you want to waste precious time and energy fighting a battle Jesus has already won?
Much more efficient and honoring to God to take Him at His word, do life actively, intentionally with Him moment by moment, and let any battles for a place in your heart be dealt with directly by your Lord and Savior.
And yes, I know I make that sound very simple and it is: simple, but not always easy. It’s a choice and it takes an intentional, expectant relationship with God - but that’s what you were born for so why not?
With the reminder that if you need some help exploring you in intentional, expectant, relationship with your Creator so you can do life with Him moment by moment and totally sidestep idolatry, the Youier book is for you and, as a valued member of the Good Christian Company community, you can click here to download an electronic copy for free.
Question to explore with Holy Spirit: What does it look like for me to actively move with you today?