When I was seven years old, my family moved across the world to the vast and rugged country of Mongolia, where I would spend most of my childhood and teenage years. The cultural learning curve was expansive, and our first year was peppered with trips to significant landmarks in and around our new home.
Gandan Monastery was one of those sites: the largest Tibetan Buddhist temple in the country. Passing through its ornate red and green gate, you enter a long courtyard scattered with pigeons and prayer wheels before being met by a formidable white building with the same red and green trim. Somberness as thick as the incense being burned settles in as you enter and approach a towering, eighty-five-foot-tall, golden statue of Buddha.
Even as a child, the sense of dread and darkness that filled the place didn’t escape me. Contrary to the meaning of the monastery’s name (which, ironically, is “complete rejoicing”), the scene is anything but joyous. I can still remember the sense of confused, fascinated sadness that came over me as I, a young girl raised in a home where Christ was center, took in the scene. People all around me worshiped this statue with belief but no assurance that they could do enough to attain the peace promised to them if they gave enough money, spun enough prayer wheels, and offered enough incense. Our unbelieving friends were held captive by terror and hopelessness as their petitions to this idol were not granted.
It should be obvious when standing at the foot of a lifeless idol just how futile it is to think it could bring any sort of hope or good to a person’s life, either now or after they die. Yet, idolatry abounds—yes, even in the western world. We might not see physical shrines and offerings like in many countries around the globe, but that doesn’t mean the idols are any less prevalent. The objects of worship are just harder to identify because many are normal, everyday things. But clandestine as the idols themselves might be, the devastation caused by idol worship is everywhere, plain as day.
The biblical imperative to keep ourselves from false gods hasn’t become obsolete—it’s as important as it’s always been. Understanding what idols are and learning how to identify them is how we can protect ourselves, our families, and our homes from the consequences of bowing to anything or anyone but the One True God. As we do, we’ll better understand the safety and freedom that can abound in our hearts and homes when God is lifted high.
Defining Idols
1 John 5:21 is a pointed command for New Testament believers to beware of idols. It’s the very last verse in the book, and it simply says, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”
This feels like a bit of a head-scratcher at first, because nowhere else in the letter does he refer to idols—the rest of the book is about the importance of loving God, loving others, walking in the light, and being watchful of false teaching. However, the more we consider this statement in light of what comes before, the more it makes sense. Keeping ourselves from idols goes hand-in-hand with all that it means to love and obey God.
What falls under the category of idols? I came across this definition from Pastor John Piper that resonates with my own study of Scripture on the topic. He says an idol is “Anything that we come to rely on for some blessing, or help, or guidance in the place of a wholehearted reliance on the true and living God.”1
Essentially, anything (or anyone) other than God that we depend on for ultimate fulfillment of any kind has become an idol to us. Idol-worship skews our ability to see and live by what is true, because we intrinsically shape our lives around (and are shaped by) what we hold in highest esteem. So if we worship anything other than God, who is the Definer of reality and the only rightful recipient of worship, our lives will be conformed to a false narrative of reality.
Self: The Ultimate Idol
What’s the number one idol from which all other idols flow? I would argue it is the self. Why? Because any idol we make for ourselves is ultimately for our own appeasement. That’s why John Calvin called the heart “a perpetual idol factory.”
Our natural bent is to reject the idea that we have an idol problem rather than admitting that our heart is the root problem. We blame-shift responsibility to everyone else, seeing ourselves as simply victims of our circumstances. However, this can be directly traced back to the first sin.
When Adam and Eve sinned, it distorted everything good and darkened our hearts to what is true. God made humans in His image—reflective of Him. But our first parents bought the devil’s lie that disobeying God would make them more like God(Gen. 3:5).
Satan is the father of lies and is skilled at his horrific craft. In fact, he had rebelled like this before. He had been the highest of the angels, given much authority by his Creator. But he coveted what was not rightfully his: the place of God. The result? He was cast out from heaven and doomed to eternal punishment for his rebellion (Isa. 14:12–14). However, even with this kind of punishment looming, he wasn’t content to stop—He wanted to take God’s prized creation with him. Because Adam and Eve chose to listen to Satan, they quickly found out the devastating reality of trying to put themselves into the position of God, destined for the same fate of eternal separation from Him because of their sin.
Praise Jesus for His redemption through the cross and resurrection. But the warning to our hearts that are so prone to wander remains the same on this side of eternity.
Idol Indicators
What are the indicators that we’ve made something an idol in our lives? How do we know when an activity, a relationship, an object, or a goal has moved from being a good gift to an object of worship? Let’s take a look at two signs of idolatry.
1. A Covetous Heart
Colossians 3:5–6 says, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming” (ESV).
Covetousness can be defined as “marked by inordinate desire for wealth or possessions or for another’s possessions.”2 You could also use the word greed. If the desire for something begins to dictate our attitudes and actions, it’s become an idol to us. If we become irritable or angry when the craving for that thing isn’t being met, it’s in the position of a false god.
The thing is, once we get whatever it is we’ve been scraping and clawing for, we realize its emptiness. Our desire for it rots into loathing it. Why? Because it’s become our slavemaster. This can happen with anything—even good things—if we’re pursuing them outside of God’s good intention.
Another reason we must have a no-nonsense policy about covetousness is because it never comes alone: it opens up the doors of our hearts to a whole bunch of other sins. James 3:16 says, “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice” (ESV). Every vile practice. This one hit me hard when the Lord convicted me of various roots of jealousy that were popping up in my own heart. If we are to take seriously our call as keepers of our homes and the hearts that live within them, covetousness (or jealousy or envy or anything else we might call it) must be kept out. Otherwise, we’ll let in a lot more than we bargained (or compromised) for.
2. Harm to Our Children
Psalm 106:36–38 (ESV) describes the chilling results of idolatry this way:
They served their idols,
which became a snare to them.
They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to the demons;
they poured out innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was polluted with blood.
This should be a wake-up call for us moms. It’s a reminder that worship of idols requires the sacrifice of those we’re called to love and serve: specifically, our children. We live in a culture that has an overarching negative attitude toward kids, and it’s important for us to understand how our thinking and actions can be influenced without us realizing it.
The most prominent example of this in our society is the mass slaughter of babies in the womb. The abortion industry is built upon the altar of self love, promising success, liberation, and prosperity. But it’s all lies. The void and guilt left in the wake of child murder can never be filled with temporal pleasures or achievements of any kind.
Countless other examples are less extreme, but harmful to children nonetheless, from speaking harsh words to neglecting our children when we feel like they’re getting in the way of something more important.
By His grace, the more seriously we take the command to keep ourselves from idols, the more we’ll protect ourselves and our kids from idolatry’s devastating effects.
The Grace to Obey
First Corinthians 10:13–14 says, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry” (ESV).
Along with the sobering warnings against idolatry, we also have the incredible hope that God hasn’t left us alone to reject idols. He’s given us all we need to resist this temptation to idolize anything we’re prone to placing on the throne of our lives.
What a faithful God we serve.
1 John Piper, “What Is an Idol?,” Desiring God, April 21, 2025, https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-is-an-idol.
2 Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “covetous,” accessed April 23, 2025, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/covetous.
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