Hey there!! It is March, and that means that it is almost Spring. People have mixed emotions about this particular season. Flowers are blooming, the weather is beautiful, and it’s time to put the toes out! On the other hand, there are those who struggle with allergies that want it to be over! There are always pros and cons to every season, both environmental and other seasons of our lives. You all know at the end of the year I always reflect and think about the things that I did well and the places that I missed the mark. I was thinking about where I missed the mark, and I was convicted. I realized that although the season was good, I developed something that caused me to feel like there was a disconnect in my relationship with God. I realized that I had an issue with idolatry.

Now before you judge me, let me share with you the definition of idolatry. According to Webster, it is “the worship of idols or excessive devotion to, or reverence for some person or thing.” The best definition I found was from an author Tim Keller. He says it is “Anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, and anything that you seek to give you what only God can give.” This was good stuff! I began to see that there were a few areas where I was exalting other things higher than God. Exodus 20:3 NLT says, “You must not have any other god but me.” God does not appreciate when we place other things before Him. How would you feel if someone that you are devoted to places someone else before you? A lil salty, right?

In the Bible, they created gods out of gold to worship or worshiped gods thought to bring things such as fertility and love. As I mentioned before, we have so many different things that we can “worship.” We have so much access to the world with just click of a button. So many things can consume our time, money, and mental space. While God is the creator and has given us dominion, wisdom, and creativity to produce all of these amazing things, He also doesn’t intend to compete with those things. Some examples of the idols of our time are money, children/family, relationships, success, influence, sex, our dreams, expectations, and careers. It is perfectly fine to love and appreciate all of those things, but we must continue to love and appreciate the giver of those good things. Just as we take time for those things, we must be sure to take time for God and make sure that we balance enjoying life’s luxuries as well as honoring God for who He is.

Wanna know what I realized mine was? My future. I made my future my idol. I realized that I am so consumed with the fact that my present isn’t shaping up to what I’d imagined my future to be by this time in my life. That takes me away from my present. It keeps me from being grateful because I am always looking at my now and saying the “math aint mathin’.” This also causes me to feel like I have to either make the moves myself or compromise with God based on what I see currently. I’m often left to think that maybe it’s not going to happen for me organically, so I just need to figure out what my life would look like alternatively. I was listening to a podcast one day and a young lady said that God told her that anything we put before Him will disappoint us. I needed that word to give me a different perspective, and it could not have been a truer statement. I could feel the disappointment settling in my heart as I was coming to terms with having to grieve some things. However, I just need to pull the idol down….

So, what am I doing to try to pull this idol down? I am still working on it, and I am sure that I will always be working on it! There could be another moment of idolization in another season of my life, it can happen before we know it. For now, I am trying to make sure that I am intentional about doing a new devotional I bought every day, I have changed up my prayers a little by being intentional about gratitude, I am trying to be more intentional about my mental space and filling it with positivity, love, and His word. Basically, I am trying to add the fire back to the relationship that I had with God. Just like we have to do with any other relationship. Renewing intimacy. Life with God is all I know, so I have to be sure that I do what I need to do to get where I need to be mentally and emotionally. He has never left, He has never changed, and His thoughts about me are still the same. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. When we feel disconnected or out of line with God, we tend to think He is like the people in our lives. Thankfully He is not fickle like us!

Father, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for being the all sufficient God, the God of more than enough. Help us to have the maturity to be self-aware enough to identify when we are placing other things before you. We repent for making those things more important than our time and devotion to you. You are the lover of our souls and the sustainer of all things. We thank you for helping us find the proper balance and surrendering all of those things to you. They may disappoint, but you never do. We love you, we worship you, and adore you. Amen.