Any tips for killing idolatry and blocking out distractions?

[Mr. KNUP]

I feel like some of the times I give into idolatry. Well, maybe more than sometimes. Any suggestions?

 

[DeerGlow]

I feel like some of the times I give into idolatry. Well, maybe more than sometimes. Any suggestions?

Idolatry with/to what? If you don't mind, it might help me be specific.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

In the OT, love for Yahweh was about the only way to combat idolatry.

I have always had this thought that the more of Yahweh we have the less room there is for anything else, so my recommendation would be fill yourself with Yahweh. Prayer, Scripture Study, doing Yahweh's work. Leaves less time and room for idolatry, plus you will grow to hate it

 

[Mr. KNUP]

Idolatry with/to what? If you don't mind, it might help me be specific.

Particularly music, internet, Netflix... that sorta thing.

 

[JCFantasy23]

Particularly music, internet, Netflix... that sorta thing.

I think most of us are guilty of letting our time be too consumed with hobbies sometimes. Just keep working on it and it will balance itself out

 

[DeerGlow]

Particularly music, internet, Netflix... that sorta thing.

Maybe set aside time to go outside, read books, or things like devotionals to get yourself more focused on God than these things if they're taking all of your time or focus.

 

[LowPost42]

I understand it's only idolatry if you do it at the expense of your relationship with God or if you think it's bigger than God.

For example, I used to worship golf. It consumed my thoughts, held all my attention, I learned all I could.

Now, I continue to golf, but it's simply a hobby.

As for the latter (bigger than God) it's more about your prayer life. If what you're praying about is bigger to you than His ability to resolve it, it's an idol.

I believe it's OK to enjoy things. Do you own it or does it own you?

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

I feel like some of the times I give into idolatry. Well, maybe more than sometimes. Any suggestions?

Look and listen for God's perspective in all that you do.

 

[longwait]

Particularly music, internet, Netflix... that sorta thing.

Instead of worldly music listen to christian music. Same goes for movies.

 

[lastofall]

Repent! for it is written:

"..we ought not to think that the Godhead [divine nature of God] is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven [carved] by art and man's device [method]. And the times of this ignorance God winked at [overlooked]; but now commandeth all men every where to repent." (Acts 17:29-30)

 

[aiki]

I feel like some of the times I give into idolatry. Well, maybe more than sometimes. Any suggestions?

Well, the idols in your life are reflections of what you find gratifying and enjoyable. They are just symptoms of you living your life for yourself. They show that you are on the throne of your life rather than God. And why is this so? Why are you in the driver's seat instead of God? Because, like all of the rest of us, you're a self-centered person. This is, you see, the Great Struggle all of us face: Who will be in charge? God or us? Who will I live my life for? Me or God?

What could possibly prompt a person to give up control of their life to God, to sacrifice what they want for what God wants? Love. Love for God. That's what the Bible says.

1 John 4:15-16
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Do you know and believe the love God has for you? Not just in your head, but in the core of who you are, in your heart? Your love of yourself that is demonstrated by the idols in your life shows, at the very least, that if you once knew and believed God's love for you, that knowledge and belief has cooled and/or weakened. So, how do you renew your love for God? How do you go from where you are to the place you ought to be? The Bible has a few instructions:

1. Remember your first love. (Rev. 2:4, 5)

This assumes that you came to faith in Christ in joyful, loving response to the love he displayed to you in his sacrificial death on the cross. Did you? The Bible says, "We love Him because He first loved us." (1 Jn. 4:19) Have you carefully considered the love that God has for you? Have you given yourself time and space to think on just how great God's love is for you?

2. Recognize how completely unworthy of God's love you are. (Lu. 7:36-47)

Luke 7:47
47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."

Jesus said this to Simon the Pharisee who was looking down on a woman who had been washing Jesus's feet with her tears and hair. She knew that she was a terrible sinner in need of a Saviour and she recognized that Jesus could - and would - forgive her of her sins. And so her heart overflowed with love for him. She knew she didn't deserve to be forgiven. She knew her sins were many and very grievous. But her awareness of her deep sinfulness made her appreciate properly the greatness of the grace and love of the One who would forgive her sins. Simon, on the other hand, thought he was a pretty decent fellow. And so he stood before the One who could forgive his sins thinking he had no sins that needed forgiving. As a result, he had no love, no appreciation for the Saviour. Instead he looked down his nose, not just at the woman, but at Jesus, too!

The more we realize just how far God had to humiliate Himself in saving us from our sins and the more we understand just how great our sin is and how undeserving of God's forgiveness we are, the greater our love for Him will be. To whom much is forgiven, the same loves much.

3. Return to the Source of Love. (Ga. 5:22, 23; 2Ti. 1:7)

God doesn't want just any sort of love from us. Certainly, He isn't interested in the sin-corrupted, selfish, human "love" we possess. No, God wants the very best love that there is from us - His own perfect, holy love. And, of course, the only way we can give such love to God is to first get it from Him. We do that by way of His Spirit. God gives each of His children His Spirit when they are born-again. In the Spirit they find all that they need to live as they are supposed to live - including the love God desires from each of us. So, then, the Christian who needs to love God more than he does himself, must open himself to the transforming work of the Spirit who will over time replace his selfish heart with a heart overflowing with a holy love for God.

Your idols are your idols because they satisfy you in some way. You won't give them up for something that is less satisfying, for something you love less, than you love your idols. God must be more gratifying, more of a joy to you, than your idols. You must love Him more than you love yourself. But He's the only One who can make such a change in you. So, in the end you must follow the instructions of Jesus:

Matthew 7:7-8
7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.