The Modern Golden Calf

I grew up learning Bible lessons on flannel graphs. Typically when I think of the story of the Israelites worshipping the golden calf, I imagine the teacher parading the Israelite people around the yellow fuzzy calf, as we all giggle at this surprising scene. Our chuckles now subside as we see the way in which we still worship idols. The idols are not of horn and muzzle, but of anything, we put in place of the Almighty. 

From our vantage point, modern-day idols are not nearly so obvious. Neither were they for the Israelites. But what if there were some clues we could look at to see the presence of an idol, which could be taking the place of God in our lives? Through the help of Pastor Timothy Keller’s book, “Counterfeit Gods”, I’ve found some telltale signs that can help us uncover an idol that is present in our hearts:

We see ourselves putting most of our resources toward it. According to Timothy Keller, an idol is something that “has such a controlling position in your heart that you can spend most of your passion and energy, your emotional and financial resources, on it without a second thought” (Counterfeit Gods). Consider the Israelites: as they got antsy waiting for Moses to return, they took off golden jewelry for the calf’s construction. The former slaves took the things God had provided them as they were escaping slavery and used it to make a false god. To keep the jewelry would have served to remind the Israelites of God’s faithfulness. By removing the jewelry to create a false god, the Israelites were misappropriating their worship.  

We pull away from our purpose. So many things buy for our attention these days, some of which don’t account for much. There is a purpose that we have been put on this Earth and it does not give us a monthly salary. Our purpose far exceeds title, income, or rank. In all we do, we must give glory to God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says it this way, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (ESV). It means we don’t live our job or role, we live and do those things for His glory. If our involvement in something brings our focus on ourselves and off of Him, we have given eternal significance to a temporary thing. That which pulls the focus off God and onto us will take us from walking in our purpose.

We begin to make compromises. At the heart level, we make decisions about what is worth our time, money, and resources. When people say, “I don’t have time for that”, they are telling you what is and is not worth their worship. The heart will go towards the things it values and away from the things it perceives brings pain. So when we see ourselves begin to make “little” compromises to things we know will bring pain, we should do a heart check. Those “little” compromises will lead us further away from the life God has intended us to live. When we stop seeing our sin as pulling us away from a relationship with God, we become less than God has created us to be.

I really feel the Lord saying if we are going to get to the end of this faith life, we’ve got to identify and call out these false idols for what they are: empty. Jeremiah 2:13 says of the people of Israel, “they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns that can hold no water” (ESV). We could say the same of ourselves; we are trying to fill our spirit with things that were never meant to satisfy, like the continual refreshment of the Lord. We can ask God to search us and reveal any area that is taking our resources, pulling us from our purpose, and which we are making compromises about. The Lord so loves us as He welcomes us back to His loving arms. As we return to the Father, He will remain the well that never runs dry.