When we allow worship to become about a worship leader, a song, a musical expression, a church growth agenda, a brand, an industry, a musical gig, a personal need for breakthrough, or any other agenda that is self-seeking and self-serving—anything besides ministering to Jesus—we allow the life it carries to be trampled out of it.
Idols
Timothy Keller
When anything in life is an absolute requirement for your happiness and self-worth, it is essentially an ‘idol,’ something you are actually worshiping. When such a thing is threatened, your anger is absolute. Your anger is actually the way the idol keeps you in its service, in its chains. Therefore if you find that, despite all the efforts to forgive, your anger and bitterness cannot subside, you may need to look deeper and ask, ‘What am I defending? What is so important that I cannot live without?’ It may be that, until some inordinate desire is identified and confronted, you will not be able to master your anger.
Wayne Muller
A “successful” life has become a violent enterprise. We make war on our own bodies, pushing them beyond their limits; war on our children, because we cannot find enough time to be with them when they are hurt and afraid and need our company; war on our spirit, because we are too preoccupied to listen to the quiet voices that seek to nourish and refresh us; war on our communities, because we are fearfully protecting what we have, and do not feel safe enough to be kind and generous; war on the earth, because we cannot take the time to place our feet on the ground and allow it to feed us, to taste its blessings and give thanks.
Nancy Pearcey
Redemption consists primarily of casting out our mental idols and turning back to the true God. And when we do that, we will experience His transforming power renewing every aspect of our lives. To talk of a Christian Worldview is simply another way of saying that when we are redeemed, our entire outlook on life is re-centered on God and rebuilt on His revealed truth.
Katherine Walden
If you place more hope in any leader to make things ‘right’ again than you place hope in Jesus, you are heading for a major crash. God does not tolerate idols in our lives, be they wealth, prestige, government leaders, or influencers of any type. He will tear them down before they destroy us.
Vance K Jackson
When you decide to hold on to your burdens you’re erecting an altar that worships your cares instead of redirecting your heart to worshipping God.