We ALL want to reduce our anxiety levels, right? Well, I’d never considered that my anxiety could be strongly connected to my own idol worship. What??? When most of us hear the word “idol” we picture something ancient and foreign—stone carvings in desert temples, smoke rising from altars, and people bowing before golden statues. We think of Baal, the sun god worshiped by the Phoenicians. We think of Molech, to whom heartbroken parents sacrificed their own children in fire. We think of the hundreds of idols the apostle Paul found cluttering the streets of Athens, including one bizarre altar labeled “To the Unknown God.” We think: How could people be so blind?
But often, when we look at our own lives, we realize we are not so different, and our level of anxiety is often proof!
I often fall into idol worship, but I just call it something else. In fact, I spent the majority of the years of my life running after idols. Running after money. Running after status. Running after the perfect body. Running my kids from practice to practice, sport to sport, because I wanted to give them the “best.” My anxiety was high all the time! Today, when I find myself exhausted, overscheduled, and full of anxiety, I recognize that—like then—I’m falling back into allowing idol worship. Idols are cruel masters. That’s why God lovingly commands us:
“You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—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 nor serve them.” Exodus 20:3–5
This isn’t just describing people hammering wood or gold into the shape of a god. It is making anything our center—besides the living God. There is one surefire way to tell if we have dethroned God: our anxiety level; or to put it another way—our lack of peace.
Our anxiety is an indication that we’re not allowing God to rule our lives because—He is never anxious.
God lovingly commands us:
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
Our culture doesn’t attribute “idolatry” to things like ambition, relationships, self-care, work, or parenting. But when they consume most of our time, our deepest passion, and our most precious resources—while God gets the leftover scraps of our day—we are practicing the oldest religion in the world: idol worship. To flip that switch, God must be the center of all of these things; in other words, His glory—not our own goals—must be our center. Jesus explained the only way this can happen:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.” Matthew 22:37–38
Love with all our heart. All our soul. All our mind. Not the leftovers after work. Everything we think, speak, and do should be motivated by our love for God. The God who created us is asking for the very thing He already deserves—and promising that when He has it, everything else finds its proper place. And the exchange? We have peace that passes understanding. When Paul stood in Athens surrounded by hundreds of idols, he didn’t mock the people. He recognized something true about every human being: We all were created to worship.
The question is never WHETHER we WILL bow to something; it’s WHAT we will bow to. God is the only object of our worship Who will never disappoint us. He gives us peace. He is worthy of worship!
“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since He himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” Acts 17:24–25
Read that again slowly. The God of the universe doesn’t need you. He doesn’t need me. He needs nothing. He is complete, whole, and lacking nothing. And yet, He invites us into a relationship. He became incarnate. He wants to “live and move and breathe” within us. (Acts 17:28)
This is love in its rarest and purest form.
So here’s the challenge God is constantly placing in front of me: Where does the majority of my time, money, and emotional energy actually go each week? Not where I THINK it should go, but where does it ACTUALLY go? And when I’m anxious, exhausted, or empty, who do I run to first? Or, put another way: What gives me the most anxiety and…the most relief? Is it my bank account? Is it the security of my children? Or is it the presence of God?
The jam-packed, frenzied life we live and pass on to our children—is often starved of spiritual roots. It does not arm us for the anxiety, fear, and pressure we face in this life. The world we live in demands more than talent and trophies to survive. It is only the born again person who lives with a strong sense of God’s presence who will thrive with a sense of peace in this broken world. God’s presence is the only solid ground that doesn’t shift when life knocks us down.
If we want to help our children and those around us, then God must be on the throne of our hearts. Modeling what it looks like to seek Him first is good for us and good for others. Let others see you pray. Let them hear you say, “I don’t know, but I trust God.”
When God is in control and the center of every area of our lives, anxiety must flee, and in its place, God gives us His perfect peace.
Prayer:
Father, when I look at my life with clear eyes, I see the places where I have bowed to lesser things. Money. Image. Achievement. Approval. Even people I love. I have given these things what belongs only to You. Forgive me. Today, I want to give You first place, not just in theory, but in my actual calendar, my actual wallet, and my actual attention. I want to love You with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind. Search me. Show me every idol I worship. Help me to take each one off the throne of my heart and mind. I want You—the God who gives life and breath and everything good—to truly be the center of everything I am and everything I do. Help me trust You. I believe You have a plan for my life that is far better than anything I could imagine. Here I am. All of me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
