The Little Golden Calf

So maybe we don't necessarily have visible or completely tangible things like a golden statue of a baby cow anymore, but idolatry is not any less true in today's times. The old testament is littered with examples of God's people worshiping things or objects other than God. The main example here, as the title refers to, is the golden calf. The new testament though also warns of putting other things apart from God as the main object of our attention. The first of the ten commandments is to not worship any God other than our God. This in some texts includes a detail saying on Heaven or on earth. This implies something very important, and something I intend to stress in this post.

So the very important thing to note here about idolatry is that the things we can make into idols are more complex than what the stereotypical view of idols are. First off, which I think we all already understand is that idols are not simply statues or objects we can hold in our hands or set on our mantles. They are much more than that. They can be things that are important to us such as getting good grades, getting a promotion, being a good parent, winning the tournament, etc. So you might have noticed, those are all good things. They are not necessarily things we should avoid. There is absolutely nothing wrong with striving for ALL of those things. However, its the amount of importance that we put on these things that matters and what contributes to their "idol" status. So now I realize, we need to define what exactly an idol is.

Idol can be defined a few ways, and I want to show them all to you because they all vary a little and yet all have accuracy to the. Dictionary.com provides us with a few of them. Here is the first: "an image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed." So what does this saying? It is saying that an idol, simply put, is something that we worship in place of God. God is supposed to be our number one focus in life and who we put at the top of our priorities. Our relationship with him is supposed to be number 1 on our list. Anything that is above him on that totem pole is by definition an idol.

The next definition we look at says: "a material object, esp a carved image, that is worshiped as a god." This definition implies that the idol or deity is not super-natural or divine, but rather formed or created by man or some other thing. Why is that important? If something is created by something else, it can not be treated as a deity. Something worthy of our worship cannot be created by us. If created by us, it is automatically below us and we shouldn't worship something we make. Do you worship the bench you made for your back yard? What about the anklet that you made for your friend? How about that tie-die shirt you wore yesterday? No? You don't worship those things? Just because it is less valuable monetarily than a shiny cow, doesn't make the cow statue any more worthy of worship. It is still man made, and not divine.

The next definition says this: "a mere image or semblance of something, visible but without substance, as a phantom." We can now take the last two definitions and decide to ourselves that this one definitely makes sense. Something that is often inanimate and man-made can't possibly have substance to it in a worshipful way. Sure, it looks cool, and we can admire the objects beauty or cool appearance, but it has no worship value. In a spiritual sense, it truly is a phantom because these things can not hold up.

Back to how I was saying that idols are not always physical objects though. You might ask, how? Well lets look at some examples. I think money is one that many people struggle with nowadays, whether they realize it or not. We have to look at the first definition here. What is more important to you at any given moment in the day, your relationship with God, or how much is in your bank account, how much your bills are, how much you are making on your paycheck, and how much gas prices have risen? I think if we all answer that question honestly, we care more about our financial situation that our relationship with God. We are far more stressed about finances and we are far more overjoyed when something good happens financially. I struggle with this too, don't get the impression I am calling people out.

Another one that I see a lot in college and saw a lot in high school is getting good grades. "Hunter, there is nothing wrong with striving for good grades and being the best you can." I agree completely. However, are your studies getting in the way of God. What I am about to say might hit home with some of you, just know I am pointing out something that ALL of us struggle with. How often do we not go to church/youth group/campus ministry because we "need to study." Sure, the workload for school is big, I get that, but we need to learn to budget our time better so that God, our supposed number 1 priority, gets the time he deserves and that when it is time to give him his time, we do it. Skipping out on church for homework is saying "I value my school more than I value my time worshiping God and studying his word." That may sound a bit harsh, but maybe its because we realize its true. Just food for thought.

Lastly, I want to look at something that is a little deeper, but something that I know I struggle with, and I am sure many of you do as well. It is the idolizing of relationships. I can be a romantic relationship, relationships with friends, or just the interaction with any people. "What does Hunter mean?" Something that often gets in the way of my relationship with God is my desire to find companionship here on Earth. I get very lonely here and although I have friends, many friends, I long for more. I idolize the idea of having a companion to be with. I am of course speaking of a girlfriend or future wife. I just love the idea of having someone in my life to share my life with and love on and give my affection to. Those are all good things. They are all Christian things as well that are promoted in our religion. However, it can get a hold of us and take over our thinking. Do some people only go to church in order to find "the right kind of woman/man"? Of course they do! Do some people think that the kind of love they are missing is the love between humans? Yes, but they are probably actually searching for the love of the Father that they haven't yet fully accepted. The same is true on the friendship level or on the level of general acceptance of others around them. All of this is idolatry. For me, relationships are an idol, as it is with most people.

To wrap things up I want to look at Timothy Keller and what he has to say about the matter. Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC and writer of the book The Reason for God. He makes the point that when we have idols, they become our identity because as our deity, they are our reason for being. The point he then makes is this:


"Identity apart from God is inherently unstable. Without God, our sense of worth may seem solid on the surface, but it never is--it can desert you in a moment...If anything threatens your identity you will not just be anxious but paralyzed with fear. If you lose your identity through the failings of someone else you will not just be resentful, but locked into bitterness. If you lose it through your own failings, you will hate or despise yourself as a failure as long as you live. Only if your identity is built on God and his love can you have a self that can venture anything, face anything."

He is making the point that idolatry leads to building our worth on Earthly things, and therefore broken things since our world is broken and sinful. In putting our worth and identity in such things, we will inevitably be let down and it will destroy us spiritually and emotionally. However, when we worship the one true thing worthy of our worship, our identity and worth can not be shaken. We can not be moved. The reason then is obvious why God does not allow us to worship anything else. Not because he is some kind of dictator, but because he knows what will happen to us if we don't solely worship him. He knows what kind of destruction that causes in us and in our hearts. He loves us enough to warn us against this so that we know that he is the only thing worthy of our worship and the only thing that can keep us from the destruction our hearts will face.

I hope that you have found this inspired by God and not in a way where it sounds as though I am judging people. I too struggle with idolatry and that is actually why I wrote this post. I felt it on my heart to write about it and share my thoughts with you and what God had put on my heart. I hope that at least one of you got something out of this. I continue to pray for you as you care enough about this blog to read it and search for God speaking to you through it.