If I Make Idols, I’ll End Up Like Them

In review of Psalm 115:8 it says, “Those who make idols end up like them. So does everyone who trusts them.”

Bottom Line:

Those who make idols end up like them and are just as helpless as those useless gods.

What this means to me:

It would be useless for me to make and trust in an idol as I would become as useless as that which I made or trusted in.

As I wrote about yesterday, everyone ends up trusting in something. If I’m not careful I can even make good things, like marriage, our family, or even a ministries in the church, into an idol.

But trusting in things other than God can have a devastating effect upon my life. If I think who I’m with or what I do will make me totally fulfilled, then I’m setting myself up for deep disappointment. The Bible reminds me of this in the book of Jeremiah when he says, “Those who make idols are disillusioned” (Jeremiah 10:14 GNT).

However, there is a great tendency to do this especially with a career, a relationship, or a bank account; acting as if those created things give meaning to life.

If I do that, I’m just setting myself up for failure. The Bible says, “The poor, deluded fool … trusts something that can’t help him at all. Yet he cannot bring himself to ask: ‘Is this idol that I’m holding in my hand a lie?’” (Isaiah 44:20 NLT)

Idols are lies, and sadly idols don’t just stop after they’ve disappointed us, eventually they will even enslave us.

The Bible says, “Those who make idols end up like them. So does everyone who trusts them” (Psalm 115:8 GW). What I’m learning is that whatever I value the most in life, I’ll become like. If I value money, I’ll eventually become a materialist. If I value pleasure, I’ll become a hedonist. If I value works, I’ll become a pragmatist. If I value above all else Jesus Christ, I’ll become a Christian.

The general tendency is to want a god or idol that I can control. I’d want to be able to manage and control it. It is the control that tends to make me feel better.

In summary, it would be useless for me to make and trust in an idol as I would become as useless as that which I made or trusted in.  Today, I will consider what I need to let go of control of so that it doesn’t not become an idol in my life.