The second thing suffocating your passion for God is idols. Now, don’t confuse this with the golden calf we read about in the Bible. We still have idols today, they just look different. An idol is anything that we place before God or anything we place our faith in when we should be placing our faith in Jesus. So an idol can be something we consider good like ambition, education, our career, or a house. These things are not bad in and of themselves, but we make idols by placing our faith in them.
Idols don’t simply exist, idols are made. And the only way to get rid of them is to starve them. If you’ve made an idol out of T.V., stop watching it. If you’ve made an idol out of social media, log off. This won’t be easy because you will have to fight the itch to go back. This is why asking for accountability from a trusted girlfriend is a must. I have a friend who will give her Facebook password to her sister and have her sister change it so she will not be tempted to login when she is taking a social media break. Do whatever you need to do to stop feeding those idols with your attention and devotion
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Now let’s say you’ve made an idol out of something more complex like your marriage or your job. You’re not going to want to end the marriage or quit your job, but you are going to want to first recognize you’ve made it an idol, ask God for forgiveness, and choose to believe that although they are good things they are not God. Instead, thank God for those things but don’t depend on them for what only God can give you. This will help you to keep your eyes on God and His goodness and in turn maintain your passion and desire for Him.
