Dear Children, keep yourselves from idols. ----1 John 5:21
Anything can be an idol, and everything has been used as an idol. The most famous moral code in the world is the Ten Commandments. The first commandment is "I am the Lord your God....you shall have no other gods before me. {Exodus 20: 2-3}. That leads to the natural question---"What do you mean by other gods?" An answer comes immediately. "You shall not make for yourseslf an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them." {Exodus 20:4-5) That includes everything in the world! Most people know you can make a god out of money. Most know you can make a god out of sex. However anything in life can serve as an idol, a substitute for God, a counterfeit God.
We think that idols are bad things, but that is almost never the case. The greater the good, the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hopes. Anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life. Idols are good things that become ultimate things.
----Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods