Tozer on idolatry

                              Food for weekend thought:
     From A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy:
          "Let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration, and that civilized peoples are therefore free from it.  The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.  It begins in the mind and may be present where no overt act of worship takes place.
           'When they knew God,' wrote Paul, 'they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.'
          Then followed the worship of idols fashioned after the likeness of men and birds and beasts and creeping things.  But this series of degrading acts began in the mind.  Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous.  The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true."
     It all begins in our minds, doesn't it?  As John Calvin once famously said "The human heart is an idol factory... Every one of us from our mothers' womb is an expert in inventing idols."
    We make idols of our pleasures, of our desires, of our comforts,  of our goals.  Even the good things in our lives can slowly and subtly becomes enslaving idols.   In our hearts and minds, we elevate the created over the Creator, the gifts over the Giver, for we fail to see our great and glorious God as He truly is... we entertain "thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him."
     Lord, forgive us for settling for those pale, ugly substitutes that become idols in our lives rather than pursuing a relationship with the all-sufficient, all-satisfying Lord of the heavens and the earth.  As John Piper has always said, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."  No idol will ever ultimately satisfy--they only steal.  Steal our contentment; steal our joy; steal our hope; steal our peace. And steal away our worship of the all worthy, glorious Lord.
     Only God fully satisfies.  Only God never disappoints.  Only God is infinitely wonderful and worthy of our worship.  Might we seek to know and love and worship Him above all else.
     To God be the glory.