My Big Fat Golden Calf

i‧dol‧a‧try-[ahy-dol-uh-tree]

1. - the religious worship of idols.
2. - excessive or blind adoration, reverence, devotion, etc.

I don't know about you, but when I see and or hear this word, I instinctivly think of definition #1 - religous worship of idols. And then I run the course of things like - TV, Internet, money - and every other typical answer.

But something I've learned recently, in the life of someone's other than my own, is that idolatry can be really good things, that we worship in a really bad, but often, unnoticed and misconceived way. This person (who I will leave unnamed), had an issue with wanting to get married. A perfectly wonderful thing (I'm married, its wonderful), but it became such an issue, that it consumed this person thoughts, it took over much of her personal/family life, and became, obviously, an idol. It's no longer that way for this person at all, and thankfully I've been able to learn from this before its too late!

I never realized it until recently, but I've totally done this in my own life. When we put something first and foremost in our life, whether it's a good thing or not, it is detrimental to ourselves, our relationships with others, and foremost, our relationship with God. Idols bring us to a place of complete selfishness, and we (well, if your like me) find any way possible to feed that idol - to attain what you want, regardless of circumstances around you, or what it might take to get what you want. From there, we can end of forfeiting our morals, standards, expectations, loyalty - etc. etc.

It's just messy.

So I challenge to you to evaluate your life. Maybe you need to lay down some of your dreams. And maybe not forever, but look at the priorities that God's set before you, and recognize those things that might hinder his plan.