Windows and Mirrors: Part 3 Idols
When looking into God’s mirrors, we sometimes see ourselves longing and striving for many noble things; but we also see how those vary things become idols, when we seek them instead of seeking God.
When we endeavor to do things for God, we act like trained animals performing for treats. “Look what I did God! Aren’t I great?” While we may indeed be good people, imagine a relationship where our only interactions were those of reward or punishment. It quickly becomes shallow and unfulfilling. You may fear acting like yourself because each action might be judged and then punished or rewarded accordingly. Indeed, this is the very perception many people have of God. Depending on how we perceive their lives, we may live in constant fear or pride. Nonetheless, God invites us to a much deeper relationship.
When we recognize our failings in a mirror, we do feel badly – horribly actually. This feeling drives us to our knees before God. The point of the mirror, however, is not simply to make us feel badly. It is to help us recognize when we are seeking something other than our relationship with God and to see the falseness of those things we have set up as idols. Only when we see this will we be willing to let go of our idols and return to God.
In other words, the point of a mirror is to teach us how to surrender - surrender our idols before God, not because God needs us to, or because God wants our idols, but because we need to let them go. As long as we cling to anything else, we will not fully embrace God.
It is important to recognize whatever idol we have is not necessarily evil. Indeed, most of us have idols that are very good and noble things – our relationships with our parents or children, our desire to do our jobs well, our desire to serve those in need, and even our desire to love God with our whole heart, mind, and soul. These are good things God commands us to do; but when they become the center of our spiritual focus, they can easily become idols. Our vary striving to achieve good things for God becomes our idol.
Remember the first great commandment: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:36)
What are your idols?
