Counterfeit Gods, How We Uncover Idols In Our Lives

FINDING THE MOTHER LODE OF SIN, OUR SELF-SALVATION PROJECTS

ANYONE WHO FINISHES TIM KELLER'S book Counterfeit Gods and merely puts it back on the shelf without experiencing varying degrees of personal unease, conviction of sin and a gnawing need for personal reflection---with its concomitant desire for Godly healing---surely has missed the point of this mighty little treatise on the timelessness and pervasiveness of sin and idolatry. All I would say is, give it a rest then go back and read it again asking the Holy Spirit to show you what you most need to see of your own misplaced priorities within its pages.

But only if you want to see real and sustained change, albeit slowly in your life and relationships.

That's because this book on our myriad (blatant as well as subtle) idol worships from Old Testament and New Testament characters is designed to be more than just another good read with commentary. Everything, every character, every story is chosen to point each of us back to ourselves, our sin and---best of all---the sin underneath all other sins in each of our lives: putting ourselves in the place of God.

I submit that Counterfeit Gods is not just a compendium of interesting Bible stories but a practical handbook for the soul's long journey back to again letting God be God and take first place in our lives. It's a blue print for the deepest change God wants to accomplish in our lives and offers encouragement from the many examples Keller chooses to showcase from the Word.

In the last chapter of the book Epilogue, Finding and Replacing Your Idols, Keller recounts how Martin Luther clearly recognized, Idolatry is always the reason we do anything wrong, adding the Ten Commandments begin with a commandment against idolatry. Why? Because the fundamental motivation behind all sin is idolatry. We never break other of God's commandments without breaking the first one: Thou shall have no other gods before thee. Keller continues:

Why do we fail to love or keep promises or live unselfishly? Of course the general answer is because we are weak and sinful, but the specific answer in any actual circumstance is that there is something you feel you must have to be happy, something that is more important to your heart than God himself. We would not lie unless we first had made something---human approval, reputation, power over others, financial advantage---more important and valuable to our hearts than the grace and favor of God. The secret of change is to identify and dismantle the counterfeit gods of your heart.

So how do we begin to identify our specific personal idols, those good things that we've turned into ultimate things in our lives, those idols that when we worship and fail, often throws us into irreparable despair?

Keller offers several clues for those who are willing to dig and endure the inner search for idols or those things we think we must have to feel fulfilled and significant

1. Imagination and what we fantasize about. Or as Archbishop Temple once wrote, Your religion is what you do with your solitude. Keller adds, the true god of your heart is what your thoughts effortlessly go to when there is nothing else demanding your attention. What do you enjoy day dreaming about? Ask, what do you habitually think about to get joy and comfort in the privacy of your heart?

2. Money and how we spend it. Our money flows most effortlessly toward our heart's greatest love.....Most of us tend to overspend on clothing, or on our children, or on status symbols such as homes and cars Our patterns of spending reveals our idols.

3. Time and how we allocate it. What is your daily functional salvation? What are you really living for? What do you pray and work for and if you don't you respond with explosive anger or deep despair---despair enough to die? This is probably where your most important idols are.

4. Our strongest emotions: Life and death matters and how we define them. What is so important to us that we must have at all costs? What heartaches and hurts from the past can't we get over or forgive ourselves and others for? What do our most uncontrollable emotions hinge on? What do we want that we're willing to do anything for, even if we know it's wrong?

All these questions and others, according to David Powlison, help us tease out whether we serve God or idols, whether we look for salvation from Christ or from false saviors.

Next week the final installment comes with what we do on this journey when we finally find our idols? Can we ever get rid of them? And if so, how?