American Idols

In studying 2 Chronicles 34 and the revival that occurred during the days of King Josiah, we observed that in an effort to manifest repentance and experience revival, Josiah destroyed that which hindered revival in his day. In his case, that involved destroying the instruments and symbols of idol worship. So he completely eradicated from the land idols, Asherah poles and incense altars. He knew as long as such things existed in the land of Judah, the people would be tempted to return to idol worship and false gods.

It is apparent that for us to experience spiritual renewal, we, too, must destroy that which hinders revival. In some cases, that means ridding from our lives that which is blatantly sinful and inherently evil. No doubt, we can think of some attitudes and practices that fall into that category. But we also noted in Sunday’s sermon that “destroying that which hinders revival” also encompasses ridding from our lives some otherwise good and decent things that represent competition with God for our attention and our affection.

I hope we’ll seriously consider what those things might be, because until we knock them off of the throne and destroy them completely, they will be a hindrance to our ability to reconnect with God in a vital and vibrant way.

For some of us, it may be a job. Not only is it the source of income and financial security, but it consumes us. We are defined by our work. We live to work, rather than working to live. If we aren’t actually working, then we’re thinking about it. If we’re not “on the job”, it’s at least “on our mind”. If the telephone rings, we’ll answer. If an email comes in, we’ll respond. And if it means that we don’t have time for devotions or worship or service, well, that’s just the price that we are willing to pay. But in the end, the job has become an idol that has dethroned our King, and we need to consider the price we are paying to keep it.

For others, it may be a relationship. Not an inappropriate sexual relationship (that would be blatantly sinful), but a relationship that takes us away from God. Or that causes us to minimize our time with God. Or that causes us to compromise our values and convictions. The relationship itself may not be sinful, but when it diminishes our intimacy with God, it becomes an idol that must be destroyed.

It could be an activity, a hobby or an interest. It could be service in a community organization that takes so much of our time that we can’t serve the Lord through His church or participate in corporate worship. It could be our love of golf if it consumes so much of our time and money that we don’t have either for God. It could be football (as much as it pains me to say it) if our devotion to the game rivals our devotion to our God.

It could be our home, if we devote so many resources to maintaining or improving it that we have fewer resources for the Lord’s work. It could be a boat, a second home or any possession that interferes with our relationship with the Lord.

As I quoted from Chuck Swindoll on Sunday morning: I don’t have many temptations to worship evil things. It’s the good things that plague me. If you can relate to that, understand that unless and until you eradicate those “good” things from your life, you will not experience repentance, and if you don’t experience repentance, then revival will just be the topic of a summer sermon series at the church that meets in a middle school.