Illuminating a pervasive sin

Idolatry happens when we look to something that does not have God’s power to give us what only God has the power and authority to give; it is when we feel a God-given appetite and try to fill it with something that is not God, according to Pete Wilson in his book Empty Promises: The Truth About You, Your Desires, and the Lies You’re Believing. This means that everyone indulges in a bit of idolatry, and the book explains many ways in which we can let good things take God’s place.

One of the problems is that good things come from God, and yet those good things can tempt us into idolatry. Achievement seduces us into wanting more of it. Approval becomes an unhealthy yearning. Power deceives us into thinking we can control our environment. Money always wants to be more than money. Religion wants to put us on the spiritual treadmill. Beauty becomes an addiction. Dreams become an unhealthy god.

The author convincingly argues that what we worship shapes who we are.  Worship of money makes us greedy. Worship of sex makes us lustful. Worship of power makes us corrupt. Worship of acceptance makes us a slave to others. Worship of external beauty makes us shallow. Desire that is set on the wrong thing corrupts and debases us, whereas desire that is focused on God enables and grows us as human beings.

In my view the book carries a powerful and illuminating message. Nearly everyone understands the second commandment as forbidding the worship of objects made from wood and stone and called “gods”. It is the sort of thing that animists do, so most Christians will assume that they have never worshipped idols. However, this book demonstrates that we have not thought through the concept of idolatry sufficiently deeply to see how pervasive the sin of idolatry really is.

Disclosure: I received an electronic review copy of the book from BookSneeze.