America is filled with idols. 

They are not idols of plaster or metal, although such idols exist. There are some Eastern temples where physical images are worshiped. In the alcoves or on the shelves of some of our homes and restaurants, small statues sit surrounded by incense sticks or fresh fruit. 

But most of our idols are very different than the gods of Asia. 

When Something Good Becomes an Idol

Our idols can indeed be made of metal, but they are more likely to have four tires beneath them. 

Instead of plastic statues on a shelf, they are plastic cards in a wallet.

Our idols are highly varied. They can take the form of things that in themselves are good.

They can be distortions of good gifts. Sex is a blessing — within marriage between one man and one woman, for life. Money is a blessing — until it becomes an end in itself or the source of our security. Ambition is a blessing — unless it becomes so overwhelming that power becomes our god. Relationships are a blessing — as long as we don’t forget that no relationship can ever meet all of our needs. No relationship but one, that is.

Ease, comfort, and prosperity can become idols. The image of a blissful retirement, problem free and full of pleasure, shines before many Americans like a beacon from heaven.

Our idols are highly varied. They can take the form of things that in themselves are good.

A desire to be esteemed and admired can take God’s place. In an eternal indictment, John the apostle writes of those who had come to believe in Jesus but were more fearful of being “put out of the synagogue” than of not following Him. Why? Because “they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God,” he wrote (John 12:41-43).  Man’s empty praise is a sorry substitute for eternal reward.

Patriotism can become a god. Love for and appreciation of our country are honorable and good things in themselves. But when they take the place of a higher loyalty, they usurp an allegiance that must always be greater.

Idols Never Fulfill Us

The sad and grim truth is that idols are always false gods. They never fulfill. They never satisfy. They always lie and mislead and deceive.

In our worship of idols, Americans are not unique. All over the world, people of every nationality, creed, and race worship things God has made rather than the Creator Himself. They look for meaning and significance in things that promise much but, because they are false, can never truly deliver.

The root of idolatry is the displacement of God from the throne of our lives.

What is the root of our idolatry? It is the displacement of God from the throne of our lives. 

“The root of every sin is a breaking of the first commandment,” writes Pastor Tim Keller. And what is the first commandment? In Exodus 20, Moses stands on the mountain to receive God’s law. The Lord spoke to Him, “saying, ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me’.” (Exodus 20:1-3)

Having “other gods” is the great sin of all of us. It is idolatry, which J.C. Ryle defined as “a worship in which the honor due to God in Trinity and to Him only is given to some of His creatures or to some invention of His creatures.”

Our Pride Keeps Us From Worshiping God

The truth is that there are only two entities in the universe: the Creator and what He has created. If we are not worshiping Him, submitting to and relying on Him for everything, recognizing His Lordship over every facet of our lives, we are worshiping something He has made.

Another word for this is pride — placing oneself at the center of one’s priorities, interests, values, and goals. Pride is the kernel from which all other sin flows. It is the idolatry of self.

Consider the Garden of Eden:

Now the serpent was craftier than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:1-5

“You will be like God” — man becomes the center of all things, his own god, dethroning God from His rightful place as his Lord.

We dethrone God when we rely on our own strength and wisdom to obey Him. We dethrone God when we refuse to seek Him in His Word and in prayer, in fellowship and worship and accountability to others.

God’s Mercy

Yet God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,” as He says to Moses (Exodus 34:6). He wants us to walk in fellowship with Him through the forgiveness and new life He offers us in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is His offer to all of us, an offer that displaces all the false alternatives presented to us by a world fraught with deception and the pagan god of self.

God “will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him,” wrote C.S. Lewis. The question for each of us is, will we have Him?