A blog post from 2017.
A couple of weeks ago something great happened. It was something which I had been praying about for seven months and it finally happened. You would think that this answer to prayer would make me happy. It did for a while. But a few days later I fell into the deepest depression I have experienced in some time. How, you ask, could I be so depressed when something really good just happened? I wondered that too.
I came to the conclusion that I had been seeking to be fulfilled outside of Jesus. This is idolatry. “For in him [Jesus Christ] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him” (Col. 1:16 NIV). We are all made “for him”, so our fulfilment must be in Jesus. Since I was trying to find my fulfilment elsewhere I became very depressed. It was only after I realised this and repented that I stopped being depressed.
We all have idols. They are not likely to be the kind of things you think. I once knew some Hindus who set up physical idols in a shrine and worshipped them. But more likely your idols are not that obvious. In my case one of my idols is achievement. I crave achievement. But no amount of achievement is ever enough to satisfy me. A friend who loves motorcycles posted on Facebook that the ideal number of motorcycles is n+1 where n is the number of motorcycles you already have. For me achievement is like that. No matter how much I have achieved it is never enough. But this is because it is an idol and I constantly need to repent of it.
No doubt you also worship idols. Every person I have met has them. Christians are by no means immune to worshipping idols. Here is a test to see what your idols are:
1) Where do you turn when you are distressed or stressed?
2) What thing do you expect to make you happy and are surprised when it fails?
3) What would you be unable or unwilling to give up if Jesus asked you to?
Many idols are things which are considered perfectly healthy and constructive things, like fitness, healthy eating, Christian service. For myself, I am called to write. But even what you are called to do can become an idol if you begin to take your worth from that activity instead of from Jesus. If the thing which you do in obedience to God becomes the way of attaining happiness and fulfilment instead of receiving those things from the God who called you, then this has become an idol. Repentance is needed.
How subtle this problem is. We can be doing precisely the right things and yet investing too much in the things we do. God’s desire is not simply that we do things for him, but that we know him and find our identity and meaning and purpose in him. This relationship is the most important one of all.