Have you ever prayed to God, asking for Him to convict you of the things in your life that are pulling you away from Him? If so, you’ll probably understand what I mean when I say doing this shocked me. I never would have guessed what God showed me I was idolizing, and I had no idea that this thing could even be an idol. I was so wrapped up in my own way, and doing what was comfortable, that I never considered the fact that I had made music an idol in my life! Yes, music! No one I know of has ever spoken about music being something they idolized in their life, and so I never thought about it, but when I looked back and assessed my life, my world was completely focused on music. This is something I often bragged about, but didn’t understand how it affected my life on a spiritual level.
Before I tell you all the story of how I lived a week of my life without music, I want to look at what Scripture says about idols, and how to know if something in your life is an idol.
What is an idol?
Idols are explained very differently in the Old Testament versus the New Testament. In the Old Testament, idols were statues built to other gods that the Israelites would worship, bow down to, and make sacrifices to. The passage that comes to me first when I think about idols is the golden calf in Exodus 32. While Moses was up on Mount Sinai talking to God and receiving the Ten Commandments, the Israelites (whom God had just saved from slavery in Egypt) turned from Him and a golden calf that they worshiped, saying “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:4b). I would encourage you to read through the whole story, and take some time to reflect on the devotional aspect of it, because it is amazing to see how our lives mirror the Israelites in their obedience, even if we are too ashamed to admit it.
There are many times in the Old Testament where the Israelites forget the God that has brought them through so much, and choose instead to worship idols of gold and other precious metals. This happens so often that we find many instances in the Old Testament where God commands His people to stay away from idols, and to not worship any other gods, with the most famous of these being Exodus 20:3-5: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God”. The Israelites had a bad habit of creating physical idols and worshiping them, although these false gods and idols had absolutely no power.
Although there are still some instances where physical idols are made in the New Testament, there is a noticeable switch from tangible idols to the intangible. When I say intangible, it refers to things that are not concrete things that can be touched, and are instead more like ideas. This is found the most often seen in the New Testament in self-idolatry, also known as vanity and pride. “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud.” (2 Timothy 3:1-2a). Many of the churches in the New Testament became consumed in sorts of self-righteousness and pride in their own knowledge, which became an idol to them. Although there were not physical idols set up in their homes that they worshiped, the members of these newly established churches began to worship themselves and idolize their abilities instead of recognizing the One that gave them these abilities. In the book of Romans, this is how it is put:
“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” (Romans 1:21-23).
Many passages, such as 1 Corinthians 10, warn against idolatry, both with the tangible and intangible. Even though idols look very different in the Old Testament and the New Testament, they are both equally presented in the way that I believe best describes what an idol is: anything that you put before God. This can look like many different things, because you can make literally anything an idol, but there are different types of idols laid out in scripture.
What kinds of idols are there?
As previously mentioned, idols can either be tangible or intangible. Examples of tangible idols include people, clothes, homes, money, or hobbies, among many other things. These things are sought after because we like how they make us look, feel, or even how other people think of us. In addition, there are intangible items like what is seen in the New Testament, which includes vanity, pride, and knowledge. Now, it is important to understand that anything can be an idol, and it is in no way restricted to the things seen on this list. These are just some common examples that I see in today’s society. The idols that I have struggled with in my life include perfection and the idea of a seemingly perfect life, the idea of relationships and close friendships, and my performance in this world.
In addition, however, 1 John describes the breakdown of idols in this world into three main categories. “For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life-is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 John 2:16). The desires of the flesh include things such as sexual desires and what makes us feel good. Desires of the eyes are things that we see that we like, and are often tangible items, such as having a nice home, pretty clothes, or an impressive-looking job, and even just our overall looks. Pride of life refers to self-idolization, when we put our abilities on a pedestal and ignore the perfect and holy God. These idols are things like being prideful in our good performance, good looks, or the gifts that God has given us. Even if they are gifts from God, and therefore not inherently bad things, we still have the ability to idolize them by placing them before the Lord in our lives.
The thing with idols is that not all idols are sinful on their own. Now, if you idolize things like sex, drinking, and vanity, those are all inherently sinful, as stated in the Bible. However, some things that we idolize are only bad because of the power we give them and the importance they have in our lives. Examples include godly friendships, hobbies, and even ministry! (I would encourage you to study about “ministry idolatry” - a very convicting topic for those working in the church and serving the Lord!). Even something that is given to us by God can be idolized when you are more focused on the blessing He has given you than the fact that God loves you so much that He desires to pour out blessings upon you. As you go through the rest of your day, take note of the things that you do, and the things that you are a part of, and begin analyzing how much importance you give them in your life. No matter what it is, if it is more important to you than your relationship with God, it is an idol, plain and simple.
My recent experience with idolatry
Now, for the part that most of you have been waiting for: I am going to share why I spent a week without music, and all that it taught me.
This idea first popped into my head a few months ago, but I hardly gave it any thought, brushing it away as a “crazy idea” and that it would be useless. As time went on, though, I began noticing how entangled my life was without music, and how I would fill up every single second of my day with listening to music. This in itself isn’t a sin, but it was deeply affecting my life, and I slowly realized how I was putting music ahead of spending time to talk to God and to listen to what He has to say to me.
So, after a long time of throwing the idea away because I was nervous of how much I wouldn’t like doing it, I set myself these rules:
After Sunday morning worship, listen to no music intentionally until next week's worship during service. (This timing is to help me start + end the week off right)
When music cannot be avoided (public places playing music, choir class, etc.), be focused on what God has been speaking to me about this week
This seems like a pretty simple list, until you realize how connected I’ve been to music. I listen to it when I get up, drive, work out, make meals, during classes, when I clean the house, doing homework, showers, and getting ready for bed. I basically spend my whole day listening to music, some of which is uplifting worship, some of which does not lift up my soul at all.
I did this for three main reasons: the first is because I have been idolizing music and spending more time letting it influence me than God. The second is because I find silence uncomfortable, and need to learn how to embrace the silence and spend time with God. The third and final reason is because I need to let God speak to me this week. I am in a bit of a transition between seasons of my life, and if I do not allow God to be speaking to me continually, I will end up in a new season of my life without His guidance, which is dangerous.
When I first started my week without music, I was pretty surprised to find out how quiet life was. Since I am used to always having something playing in the background, it was totally different, and pretty awkward, to have silence. Quickly, though, it grew on me. Not only did the quiet allow me to feel peace in my life instead of rushing from one thing to the next, but it also showed me how many opportunities there are in a day to be praying to God. I began talking to Him, bit by bit, throughout the day, and it really changed how I lived through the rest of my day. I was able to focus a lot better on whatever task I had, and I really saw no negative to what I was doing. Although working out was definitely different when I had no music to pump me up, I found that music in life is something that I really don’t need.
I will admit, though, it was such a relief to come to Sunday morning service and spend time worshiping after a week without music. The rest of that day, I began to reflect on the week and how not having music affected it. In addition to my growing prayer life, I realized that I allowed God to speak to me a lot more in that week. He can’t speak to you and tell you what you should do next if you are drowning Him out with a bunch of other voices in music. I received a lot of clarity in different situations in my life, because I had time to think these through, bring my requests to God, and listen to what He had to say in response to my requests.
The biggest thing, though, is I realized how much I do not need music in my life. Now, does this mean I will never listen to music ever again? Of course not! (I’m actually listening to music while writing this). However, I now know that I can go without it, and I often tell myself to turn off the music so that I can spend time with God instead in prayer. I am learning how to de-idolize music in my life by filling the time I normally spend in music with God, and learning how to prioritize time with Him in my life instead of anything else.
If this has gotten you thinking about what idols are in your life, and you think you have found one or a few in your life, I have a challenge for you: go without that thing for a whole week. This will look very different to you, depending on what your idol in your life is. For example, if you are idolizing a person, it would be wrong to totally cut them out of your life with no explanation or warning, and if you are idolizing things like money, I’m honestly not sure if you can go a week without making or spending any money. Take some time in prayer with God right now (yes, right now) to ask Him to help you spend some time away from this idol.
In addition, don’t just spend a week without this thing: you need to replace that thing in your life with time strengthening your relationship with God. If you do this, please reach out through the blog and tell me all about it: what you were idolizing, how you spent time away from it, and what God taught you in this process. And lastly, if what you are idolizing makes you feel uncomfortable with removing it from your life, that just makes it a sign from God that this idol is beginning to consume you. Your discomfort thinking about removing it from your life means that you are relying on it in your life instead of God. This is the enemy trying to push you from getting close to God. Have strength, and don’t let this stop you from pursuing the Lord with everything that you have.
Comments