Please excuse the ginormous watermark across the middle of this photo. I couldn’t figure out how to purchase this image and decided that an Oprah photo wasn’t worth jail time. You can still get this gist and luckily, I can still walk free.
On New Year’s Day morning, my hubs woke with the kids and allowed me to sleep a bit longer.
Until 10 a.m.
When I roused myself from this deep slumber, I panicked a bit when I saw that the clock read 9:51 a.m. On my bedside table was a now-cold pancake and a piece of bacon along with a now-cold cup o’ joe and the morning paper.
After getting over the fact that 1) I had slept as late as I used to sleep when I was in college and 2) I was so deeply asleep that I didn’t even hear him deliver breakfast, I reached for the paper and began to peruse.
On the second page, I was greeted with an article about Oprah’s new cable station OWN – the Oprah Winfrey Network.
The above Associated Press photo caught my eye because wow…What do you think of when you see this?
I don’t have much against Oprah. I think she is a bit lost and searching for answers in unreliable places but that’s her personal journey. It’s our society that’s really lost.
They think she’s Him.
Once I laid eyes on this photo, Casting Crowns’ song “What If His People Prayed?” popped into my head, particularly the part in which lead singer Mark Hall croons “What if the family turned to Jesus – stopped asking Oprah what to do!”
However, as I laid in bed devouring my cold but delicious blueberry pancake, I realized that I had a log in my own eye.
We are told by God that we “shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3) and it’s easy enough to think that I’m not doing this because I’m not worshiping Baal on a hill.
But am I worshiping something else? Have my iPhone, my laptop, my blog, my family become gods above Him?
Idolatry is defined as something that interferes with our relationship with God. Ouch.
Though I hate to share this horrid part of my being, there are many o’ mornings that I reach for my iPhone before my feet hit the floor to check my emails, assess the weather, to connect with the “world” before the tornado of life with three children under five whisks me out of bed for the day.
(Clears throat.) Shouldn’t I be talking to Him first? You bet your bottom dollar I should.
Susie Larson, author of the book Growing Grateful Kids spoke at last year’s “Hearts at Home” Conference and I remember her mentioning she taught her children that when they feel something taking over, becoming more important to them than God, they know it’s time to abstain. She shared of a time when her son gave up the computer for a few days because he felt it was becoming an idol and he needed to “re-center”.
I just spent some time doing just that. For ten days, I didn’t write. I didn’t do much updating on Facebook and didn’t Twitter at all.
The world continued to rotate on it’s axis. Imagine that.
Oprah is not my God. My iPhone, my blog, my computer, and even my beloved, precious family? No, they’re not either though admittedly I sometimes forget this.
And yes, our families CAN be an idol.
Can you imagine the pressure placed upon people who are our idols? They absolutely cannot fulfill the innate need He created us to possess because they are, after all, human. It’s in realizing that I was doing this to my husband a while ago that I concluded in essence, I was setting the very person I love the most up for failure because he will never be able to fill the “God-shaped hole” that resides in me.
And it resides in each of us. God did that for a reason. Clever man.
I can’t rely on JJ or my children or my iPhone or this blog or my laptop or my friends or Facebook or Twitter to fill that hole – He’s the only one that can do it.
It’s in this that we begin to chip away at achieving peace within the soul, a peace that assures that while those aforementioned things can all be taken from us in an instant, the filler of that hole, that Wonderful Counselor, will always remain.
I’m pretty sure my iPhone can’t boast the same…
I’m joining in with Jen from “Finding Heaven” for the Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood – hope over and visit some of these gifted women!
Well said, loved this. I had the same thoughts as you when I saw this picture…she is being worshipped. It’s been 10 minutes since I put my trust in a Snicker’s bar in the shape of a Nutcracker instead of turning to God, so there you have it.
.-= Erin´s last blog ..Seasons =-.
This spoke to me, thank you. Especially the line “idolaltry is defined as as something that interferes with our relationship with God” Yes, ouch. I really need to remember that it is that simple.
ANYTHING we derive our worth from or use as a basis of our identity other than the fact that we are a child of His, perfectly loved and cherished, risks becoming an idol.
Thanks, Satan!?!!
Truth….keep sharing girl!
i love that casting crowns song! and you are right about. so right. i am so glad that my hubs got me the beth moore 90 days with Jesus Bible study for Christmas. i started it yesterday morning and it is SUCH a wonderful way to begin my mornings. and guess what?? oprah isn’t ANYWHERE in it!! ;)
.-= alison´s last blog ..christmas cards past =-.
Ouch is right…it is the age of technology for sure…our Baals. I too – struggle with computer time. We have made a month long pact to consume less stuff…food, things and yes…technology! I SO needed this reminder this morning:) thankyou!
.-= Tiffini´s last blog ..does God talk to you when you exercise =-.
WOW!!! I am still seeking Him per a ‘New Thing’, and these thoughts are ‘well-thunk’. Thank you.
Thank you for this, I must say it hit hard, as I too reach for my Blackberry each and every morning before I ever think about reaching out to God. Yea, it might be time for that to change :)
My son was just doing a piece out of the bible that talked about idols. I asked him (he’s 12) what was important to him. He said football, I said, ok, that could be an idol if you place your thoughts of ‘football’ before your thoughts of and to Jesus. It made me look at what was ‘important’ to me and I too am painfully aware of what I can place before my heavenly FATHER! Working on it, even as far as distraction goes, all our little ‘things’. Ugh!
.-= marlece´s last blog ..Monday is on the rise! =-.
There was a devotional I read about a year ago about that our children and spouses can be idols. That got my attention immediately because in that split second I realized my family was my idol. I have sense realize Facebook, Twitter, my blog are all idols to me. I need to sit down first and spend time with God before I come on any of these sites.
Thank you for a great, thought-provoking and honest post. I’m gonna go (belatedly) open my Bible now…
.-= Janice J´s last blog ..The Last Dish =-.
Natalie,
Well, first of all, I haven’t been here in awhile, but I hope you and your fam had an amazing Christmas! I really liked Growing Grateful Kids. Good read with practical info. Also, I couldn’t agree with you more about idols. Not only do I set my husband up too high. . .I am guilty of setting my children up there right next to him.
.-= Amy Sullivan´s last blog ..My Girls View on the Change Jar =-.
I had to step away from wine for awhile. And Bible study (leading the group). And just plain being busy, because being busy can be an idol too, at least for me. Idols can crop up at any time and this is a great reminder to stop and reflect.
.-= Jen Ferguson´s last blog ..Being Still vs Doing Nothing & Soli Deo Gloria Link-up =-.
Hi Natalie – I’m new to your blog. Found you through Soli Deo Gloria today, and am so glad I did. My first thought after reading this was, “Yes!” You are right on and I am guilty of all the same things – expecting people or things to fill that “God-shaped hole.” Thanks for saying it and making me more aware.
I know I am guilty of making things idols and your comparison to Oprah really made sense. I often let other things edge Him out…daily. That is one reason I wanted to do scripture memory this year…to start focusing back on Him. Only Him…the rest is just details :)
.-= Christy´s last blog ..Hopes =-.
wow…. I really liked this post! Thank you!
I’ve made other things my god as well, even good things. But things all the same.
Which is part of the reason why, as of next week, I’ll be laying one god down.
.-= GlowinGirl´s last blog ..One Less Orphan =-.
I totally get this, as many others do as well. I have days when I am really good at recognizing that I’m devoting my time and energy to things that don’t matter (and try to redirect those energies in the right direction), and other days I get so caught up with children’s schedules and trying to find a modicum of time to myself that I forget to dedicate time to the One who needs my time the most. Thanks for being so brutally honest so we may be brutally honest with ourselves as well. :) :)
Natalie, this was great. Last year God spoke to me about my idols in the study No Other Gods by Kelly Minter. I had to recognize that my idols were my friends and the phone (my physical idol). It’s a struggle that I still need to die to daily, but one that I know is worth it.
.-= Michelle´s last blog ..Wednesdays Voice – Vietnam Update =-.