The Brave by Michael DiMarco

The Brave by Michael DiMarco

Author:Michael DiMarco
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JNF049130, Fear—Religious aspects—Christianity, Anxiety—religious aspects—Christianity, Courage—Religious aspects—Christianity, Peace of mind—Religious aspects—Christianity
ISBN: 9781441238078
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group


The Brave Know the Idols in Their Lives

The world is full of idols—people, things, products, and ideas that are considered a great success and worshiped by many. Idols like singers, actors, shoe companies, tech companies, and sports teams all fight for the affections of your heart. Idolatry isn’t just a thing of the past, for the ancient and uneducated man or woman, but is real and present in your life and the lives of those around you. The concept of idolatry is a big one, and more than we can cover in this section, but it’s one that is essential for the Brave to understand, because your idols can steal your bravery right out from under you.

Idols aren’t just statues and they aren’t just famous people, but they can be anything you require in your life for happiness and hope. Idolatry is defined as an immoderate attachment or devotion to something other than God. Anything other than God that you look to for anything God intends to give you is an idol, a rival to God (see Deut. 5:7; Matt. 6:24; Rom. 6:16). As such, it will slowly tear you away from the true source of your strength, wisdom, and hope.

The problem with idols is that they are breakable. They can be stolen, lost, killed, or damaged. Unlike God, they are not eternal and not holy. They are not able to give you what they promise, and they’ll almost always end up disappointing you. Because idols are so weak and imperfect, the fear of losing them is constant and consuming. Because you set your heart on them so, because you love them and want them in your life, you continuously have to fret and stress over keeping them. An idol puts a lot of requirements on its followers. For example, the idol of comfort requires that everything be comfortable in order for the follower to be happy. When the worshiper of comfort isn’t comfortable, they complain, whine, and doubt. They can’t be happy or content. They can’t go on, they can’t survive, they can’t do without the thing they need to bring them comfort. So the worshiper of comfort fears things like going somewhere where they will be uncomfortable or doing something that won’t feel good. They panic, stress, and fear the unknown because of the fear of being uncomfortable and not serving the idol of comfort. Beyond being the terrible sin of idolatry, this also can quickly become the sin of disobedience when comfort speaks more loudly than the voice of God that says “go.” When God wants you to do something or go somewhere and you won’t because you fear the discomfort involved, the idol of comfort has become king of your life.

But the Brave know the idols in their lives and choose to destroy them. When one pops up in their life, they smash it, like a spiritual game of Whack-a-Mole. When the idol of comfort, lust, or fear screams to be fed, the Brave resist it and instead turn to the God of love for satisfaction and relief.



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