January 18

I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. — Ezek 36:25 BSB

When there are no crosses to bear, no temptations to resist, or no spiritual exercises to endure, a person is almost sure to turn to idols. No matter what experiences they’ve had—whether trouble or consolation, distress or joy—if they are left unchallenged for a time, they will eventually begin setting up their own "household gods" in the secret chambers of their heart. Profit, pleasure, self-indulgence, and self-gratification will find their way in and capture the heart.

It doesn’t take much for something to become an idol. Anything that occupies more of our thoughts than God, anything we desire more than Him, or anything that consistently captures our interest more than He does becomes an idol.

Idolatry is not defined by the size of the object we worship but by its existence as an object of worship. I’ve seen idols in various sizes—from small Burmese idols to massive Egyptian statues—but the size of the idol is irrelevant. Similarly, a flower can be as much an idol to one person as a chest of gold to another. If you examine your heart, you’ll see idols rising and falling all day long, like stars appearing in the night sky.

Crosses, temptations, difficulties, losses, trials, and afflictions are sent to tear down these idols and to pull our hearts away from them. These challenges prevent us from becoming too comfortable in our spiritual lives and settling for an appearance of life while remaining dead inside. They force us to cry out for mercy, to abandon false hopes, and to pull down the rotten supports we’ve built.

We don’t learn that we are sinners simply by reading the Bible. This truth must be worked into our hearts—it must be burned into us. No one will sincerely and spiritually cry out for mercy, for pardon and reconciliation through Christ’s atoning blood, until the reality of sin is deeply felt—its misery, guilt, entanglements, deceptions, and condemnation. When the Holy Spirit works in us, He stirs up sighs, groans, supplications, and longings to know Christ, to feel His love, to experience the power of His blood, and to embrace Him as our salvation and desire. Although we may go through seasons of barrenness, hardness, deadness, and apparent indifference, the Holy Spirit will revive His work, often through painful means. He will not allow a quickened soul to rest until it has personally and experientially enjoyed Christ and His glorious salvation.