4 Steps to Kill Your Idols

Earlier this week, I wrote about the danger of idolatry.

We tend to think about idols as statues and false gods worshiped by ancient civilizations. But idolatry is something we deal with every day.

Anything that captures our devotion, trust, or affection can be an idol.

For some of us, it’s money. For others, it’s comfort, success, our children, our reputation, or the desire to control everything around us.

Sometimes our idols are obvious. Other times, they’re so deeply embedded in our lives that we hardly recognize them.

But recognizing an idol is only the beginning.

You cannot defeat an idol you’re determined to defend.

In 2 Kings 17, God repeatedly warned the Israelites about their idolatry. He sent prophets to call them back to himself. But they refused to listen.

Eventually, their constant rebellion led to judgment and exile.

And here’s what makes that story so scary: God warned them long before everything fell apart.

He was patient. He was merciful. He gave them opportunities to repent.

But they wouldn’t turn.

I don’t want that to be true of you.

If God is exposing something in your heart today, don’t ignore him. Don’t make excuses. Don’t wait until sin devastates your life before you decide to deal with it.

Instead, let me give you four practical steps to help you confront the idols in your life.

1. Name Your Idol

The first step is simple: Call it what it is.

Don’t dress it up. Don’t make excuses. Don’t give it a more respectable name.

If it’s pride, call it pride.

If it’s pornography, call it pornography.

If it’s greed, jealousy, bitterness, or the need to impress everyone around you, be honest about it.

In Ezekiel 14:3, God describes people who have “taken their idols into their hearts.”

That’s a powerful picture.

Our idols aren’t usually sitting on shelves. They’re hiding in our hearts.

And because they’re hiding there, we can become incredibly skilled at hiding and protecting them.

We call greed “being financially responsible.” We call pride “having high standards.” We call control “being organized.” We call selfish ambition “working hard.”

Of course, financial responsibility, high standards, organization, and hard work can all be good things. But we need to be honest enough to recognize when good things have become ultimate things.

Ask God to expose what’s really going on inside you.

You cannot repent of an idol you refuse to name.

2. Take It Captive

Once you’ve identified your idol, you have to confront the lies you’re believing about it.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that we are to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

Paul is talking about confronting arguments raised against the knowledge of God, but that principle has an important application to the way we think about our idols.

Every idol makes promises it cannot keep.

Money promises security.

Success promises significance.

Comfort promises happiness.

Control promises peace.

The approval of others promises acceptance.

And every one of those promises becomes a lie when we expect something created to give us what only God can provide.

So when you’re tempted to worship an idol, confront that temptation with the truth of God’s Word.

When money tells you that you need more to be secure, remember God is your provider.

When success tells you that your accomplishments determine your worth, remember your identity is found in Christ.

When insecurity tells you that you’ll never be good enough, remember that through Jesus you’ve been welcomed into God’s family.

Don’t simply accept every thought, desire, or emotion as though it’s telling you the truth.

Bring it under the authority of Jesus.

3. Put It to Death

This is where things get serious.

Colossians 3:5 says, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.”

Notice what Paul doesn’t say.

He doesn’t say to manage your sin.

He doesn’t say to make peace with it.

He doesn’t say to keep it around as long as it doesn’t get too out of control.

He says to put it to death.

The great Puritan pastor John Owen famously wrote, “Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.”

That’s still good advice.

If something is pulling your heart away from Jesus, don’t protect it. Don’t make excuses for it. Take decisive action against it.

That might mean changing your habits, setting boundaries, removing temptations, or confessing something you’ve kept hidden.

It might mean having a difficult conversation, asking someone to hold you accountable, or seeking professional help for an addiction or destructive pattern.

Whatever it requires, don’t confuse feeling convicted with actually repenting.

Repentance isn’t merely feeling bad about your sin. It’s turning away from your sin and turning toward God.

And we don’t do that in our own strength. We depend on the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit as we put sin to death.

4. Replace It with Jesus

This is the most important step.

You can identify an idol, confront its lies, and take steps to remove it from your life. But if your heart doesn’t find something better to worship, you’ll eventually be tempted to return to the same old things.

That’s because the human heart was made for worship.

And the answer to idolatry isn’t simply to stop loving the wrong things.

It’s to love Jesus more.

In Colossians 3:1–2, Paul tells believers to seek the things above, where Christ is, and to set their minds on things above rather than earthly things.

That’s the other side of putting sin to death.

We don’t merely turn away from our idols. We turn toward Jesus.

We learn to find our security in his faithfulness, our identity in his grace, our satisfaction in his goodness, and our joy in knowing him.

We spend time in his Word. We pray. We worship. We obey. We walk with other believers who encourage us to follow him.

And over time, as our love for Jesus grows, the things that once held our hearts begin to lose their grip.

Not because we’ve become strong enough to save ourselves.

But because Jesus is better.