"Idols capture our imagination and we can locate them by looking at our daydreams (what do we enjoy imagining? What are our fondest dreams?)...idols give us a sense of being in control, and we can locate them by looking at our nightmares (What do we fear the most> What if we lost would make life not worth living?) We make sacrifices to appease and please gods, who we believe will protect us. We look to our idols to provide us with a sense of confidence and safety"
"Idols control us, since we feel we must have them or life is meaningless"
"When we are completely immersed in a society of people who consider a particular attachment normal, it becomes impossible to discern it for what it is"(Idolatry in society)
Idols cannot simply be removed. They must be replaced. If you only try to uproot them, they grow back: but they can be supplanted. By what? By God Himself, of course (making Him our compelling affection)
"What is your real, daily functional salvation? What are you really living for, what is your real-not your professed-god? (a good way to discern this is how we respond to unanswered prayers and frustrated hopes, or to look at our most uncontrollable emotions)"
'Jesus must become more beautiful to your imagination, more attractive to your heart, than your idol. That is what will replace your counterfeit gods. If you uproot the idol and fail to 'plant' the love of Christ in its place, the idol will grow back'
From
'Counterfeit gods' by Tim Keller
