what is an idol
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Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Christ with Coffee on Ice. I am your host, Allie Yost, and I am so thrilled to be with you guys. Happy Friday, everybody. I'm so excited to be with you guys.

Unfortunately today, I don't have a coffee with me. I have a poppy. I'm drinking the lemon lime by I love this It's kind of like a it's like a sprite dupe and I love her The reason I'm not having coffee y'all is because in full transparency as I'm filming this it's the evening for me And I've already had two coffees today, so I just don't want to overdo the caffeine. You know I mean guys we are

We actually have a fly infestation, okay? I know we had our guest last week, the fly that was showing up. There's another one. There's actually multiple flies in our home. Like it's actually awful. Do you see him? Guys, I've been running around with a fly swatter.

Did that do anything? Guys, I don't know. There's too many flies in our house. There's too many for my liking. Guys, I love you. Oh my gosh. I'm so excited for this episode. It's gonna be a fun one. It's gonna be convicting, but also it's giving breakout your notepads. And today what we're gonna talk about is we're gonna be talking about idols, what that looks like, what it even means to have an idol in your life, how extreme versus minimal can they look like,

And we're just gonna break it down. I think it's a very important topic to learn about and be educated about because when I didn't know about idols and then I started to learn about it, I just saw how even like BC version of me was doing that and I had no idea. If you are a human being, we all have one thing in common and whether you believe you have it or not, it's just the truth. This is all what we were, it's like embedded in our souls.

which is we have a purpose to worship. When I started to understand what our souls really crave, it's really a craving. It's like, it's a desire because it's what our souls were made to do, okay? It really got me to like start looking around and even at concerts and stuff, like when we're caught up in the music, we want to put our hands up and praise, right?

Whether it's just the music or the person singing it, like we love to just, it's praise. And so when we look at the definition of an idol, the definition is an image or representation of a God used as an object of worship. Idols in this case are objects or people that are not God, but are worshiped as if they were. And what's crazy all is there's actually so much scripture that refers to idols and worship

Warning us to not make anything an idol aside from God. Psalm 115, four through eight reads, their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mounts but do not speak, eyes but do not see. They have ears but do not hear, noses but do not smell. They have hands but do not feel, feet but do not walk, and they do not make a sound in their throat. These who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.

That one is crazy. God is basically, y'all, in that scripture, he's saying, so their idols are silver and gold, which essentially sounds like he's saying that like these people are either idolizing, they're idolizing wealth or like jewelry, right? Or just simply silver and gold. I don't know. I haven't read this part of the Bible in Psalm, but

they're putting silver and gold on this pedestal and they're like, "Oh," and they're worshiping it. There's kind of an underlying tone that I, at least I'm picking up and I hear whenever God talks about idols, he always sounds like super frustrated. You can't count on these things. They're never gonna be able to fill that spot like I can. And so the consequences of making something an idol isn't just simply God's frustration and his wrath, right?

God has made it very clear in his word that he is very much against us making anything an idol other than him. But there's a few reasons to this. The most obvious reason is we aren't looking to him for complete dependency.

If we've made something an idol in our life, that means that there's a good chance there's something else that's above God in our hearts or ranked at least at the same level as Him. If we are fully trusting God with our lives and call Him our Savior, He should be number one in our lives. Having an idol will distance ourselves from our Father and it will most likely make our relationship with Him feel confusing or wishy-washy.

It feels wishy-washy because we aren't being completely loyal to just him. God in the Bible so many times refers to the church as his bride and he is the bridegroom to us, right? So he's the bridegroom and when we follow Jesus, we trust him with our lives, which is a lot like marriage. You know, when we decide to follow Jesus and we're like, okay, God, it's you and you alone.

It is a marriage. Like we're essentially marrying him and we're depending on him and we are partnering with him for life. He has an unwavering loyalty to his bride, which is us, as we should the same to him, the bridegroom. So if you think about a marriage and your spouse was starting to prioritize something else over your marriage, even though

you guys literally vowed at your wedding, for better or for worse, or for sickness and in health, it would most likely affect your relationship in closeness and intimacy. You know? So when we really put it into comparison to a literal marriage, and you think about what would happen in a marriage if something else was being put before

that relationship, it's going to affect that relationship. It's going to affect the intimacy. It's probably going to affect their, even just their friendship, like the closeness that they have and maybe a little bit of their trust for one another. You know, like I only hope and pray that I am a trustworthy person to Jesus. And I would never, I would never want to put anything else above

who he is to me in my life. Like, I don't want to put anything above Jesus in my life. Another consequence that is, might be just as obvious as like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. It could affect your relationship with God. It could cause a wedge between you and him. You know, it could affect your closeness with him. But also,

It's not just about our relationship with God. It's also about our relationships with other people in our personal life. This might not seem as obvious to us when we think about idols, but it's true. It's not something that could just affect our relationship with God. It could absolutely affect our relationships with other people. If someone had a very strong idol or obsession with something that

isn't the Lord, it actually has the capability to destroy relationships or even careers. And this might sound really dramatic, y'all, but let's just talk through some examples. Let's use money as an example. Okay, this is a very easy one for a lot of us humans to fall into is the obsession and just putting money on a pedestal. So if somebody had an obsession with money and wealth, there's a good chance that they're going to put that above all other things.

This could look like someone taking on so much work that they don't spend time with the people in their life anymore, but they justify it by saying, quote, this is going to make me so much money. This is going to make me rich or this will be good for my family. Right. Like I'm sure a lot of us can actually relate to that where we've experienced, quote,

Maybe even ourselves or other people around us who have had such an obsession with money that at whatever cost it took They would do it if it meant that they were gonna be making more money It's an obsession and it's an idol in their life even ruining their career in a way, you know Because some people can get it can become kind of corrupt and so desperate and so obsessed with it that they could end up stealing from people lying and cheating to get that idol of money and this can be

becomes so dangerous because it's actually a slippery slope into selfishness and neglect to others around you. Another example that I would like to bring up is that someone could have a person as an idol in their life. And I'm not just talking about Taylor Swift or Harry Styles or it doesn't just have to be celebrities, although we're not ruling that out. We do that with celebrities literally all the time. B.C. Alley was

definitely idolizing Ariana Grande. Like she was my everything. Like I was obsessed with her. It was sick. Like I look back on it now and I'm like, literally ew. But it just, like when you look back at that, when I look back at that,

It just makes me realize that I, again, it goes back to what I started this pod episode with by saying like, we are just made to literally worship. And that's what I was trying to do. That's what my soul was seeking because it's how all of our souls are literally programmed. But I was just doing it with the wrong thing. But it doesn't just have to be a celebrity. It could absolutely be somebody in your personal life. It could be a boyfriend. It could be a girlfriend. It could be a best friend. It could be a family member. It could be your boss. Like,

someone you look up to career-wise. Like, I don't know. It could be anybody. And this can be extremely dangerous. This one's crazy dangerous because no human being can fill the role of an idol in our lives.

No person can do it. The simple explanation to that is because they're only human. They're literally only human. If the definition of idol can be defined as something that is in the place of God, and when we think about God, God is perfect, right? So if that place is meant for God and he's perfect, that means that the only thing that should be there is something perfect, which is not people, right?

which is not human beings. We are not perfect. We are far from it. And I think that's why so many of us

who have even been in intimate relationships, you know, with a partner, we put our partners on pedestals without realizing that pedestal can only be filled by the Lord. Like, I mean, I've done it. I look back at my relationships before I knew Jesus. I was absolutely putting these people, these men that I was dating, on pedestals. I did. I wanted to make them so happy. I wanted to serve them. I wanted to love them. And I put them at the center of my entire life. I would...

Plan my entire life around them and granted maybe you could just say that I was a simp or I was a doormat but I really believed that it was because again my soul was just wanting to put somebody or something anything in that spot and

that pedestal on that foundation that only God could stand on those were only the shoes that he could fill but I absolutely would do it in relationships and the thing is is like we will end up disappointed every like we will we will end up being disappointed if we put a person in that place and y'all if we think about it it's not even that person's fault that we end up disappointed because again that just goes back to their human and they just physically can't fill that spot and honestly even if

Somebody else has put you on that pedestal and you felt that kind of pressure from somebody where you felt like you had to show up for them in a way that you're like, this is giving supernatural. Like, I don't even know how I can fulfill all of their expectations. And I don't know how I'm supposed to be able to just like do all the things that they're expecting from me. I am not God. Like, I cannot...

Do it. Now, these ones might be more obvious examples of idols, but some more examples of an idol in someone's life could be drugs or alcohol. And we should all be familiar with the consequences of these types of idols. They ruin our relationships and our health and our lives. They depend on these things to have peace. They depend on these things to have comfort. They have dependency on these things to just escape, to numb, to

And it's literally evil. And I know it breaks God's heart because at the end of it all, he tells us not to make anything else an idol because he knows what it'll do to us.

He knows the way that it can affect us. He knows the letdown. He knows the disappointment. He knows the way that it's gonna fail us. And then maybe some less obvious examples, and I know you guys don't wanna hear this, and maybe this is contradicting because Christ with coffee on ice, but coffee, coffee could definitely be an idol in our lives, okay? This generation, we are literally obsessed with coffee. We're like, don't talk to me until I have my coffee. I can't start my day without my coffee. I literally can't do anything without my coffee.

just take it with a grain of salt, it might be giving idol. If we're acting like we can't survive without it, I love you. I love you. Thank God, obviously, coffee isn't as bad as a cigarette or a shot of tequila, but it definitely could serve as an idol in your life. Self-image, social media, y'all. Whoa, social media is such an idol in this generation. I don't know. I feel like I've even struggled with it from time to time, like being obsessed with checking it, being obsessed with numbers, being obsessed

Like all of it. It's giving idol. It's giving I need this. I'm relying on it. I need it to be happy. I need it to feel fulfilled. I need it to feel worthy. Okay. And then another one is approval of man. I think that could also tie in with social media where we just want people to approve of us and love us.

and like us. It could even happen when we're trying to attract the other sex, like women, where we maybe dress a certain way or do our makeup in a certain way because we know that men will, or we think that men will like it and vice versa. Men, you can do the same with women where you're

Act in a certain way dressing a certain way being a way that maybe you wouldn't normally be but you're doing it because you want the approval that can be an idol like approval of men and Finding our worth in that and stability in that it's giving idol. Okay now that we're done with a convicting part T He love you guys so much Love you. Thank you for being open. Thank you for listening to that part It's just the truth and I think it's just something we all have to hear. So next thing is is okay, Ali is

How do I know if I have an idol in my life then? Okay, we're talking about idols You've given off some examples of what it could look like great We know the definition of idol, but how do I know if I actually have an idol in my life? Like I

Because sometimes they are sneaky, y'all. Sometimes we don't even realize. Hey guys, how's it going? Are we loving this pod episode? Is it our favorite? Is it absolutely blessing us? Thanks God, you're the best. So this is going to kind of give a commercial moment, y'all. But I really just wanted to let you know that there is a way to give to the podcast and help support it financially. We've already been doing this, but we've considered and taken in some of your guys' feedback. And we believe that this is going to be the easiest and

and simplest way to give to the pod if it is something that you feel led to do. So we're gonna do it through PayPal, and you guys can give at www.paypal.me/cwcoi. It will also be linked in all descriptions below the episode, as well as in the link in our bio on our social media. If you've already given to the podcast in the past or you decide to do it after this episode, I just want you guys to know that it means the world to me. Thank you for your generosity,

And I just appreciate and love y'all so much. Okay, now let's get back into the episode. I was thinking about it and I really believe that the biggest indicator is our reaction when it's stripped away. How are we reacting when the thing is taken from us? If you're being led to despair by something not happening, a job, a relationship, marriage, etc. Those can all be idols as well, by the way. Like things that you want to happen in your life and you're like,

despair like you are like devastated that it hasn't happened yet or if a certain thing has been taken out of your life or your routine that is an indicator that you've actually put your hope in that thing you've put you've you've let a foundation you're standing on that foundation you've let it happen you are now standing on it and looking at it for support whoa and the only thing you're supposed to be putting hope into is God right

That's the only thing we should put hope into because he's the only thing that's truly reliable for infinity and beyond. Now, I think the key word in this, y'all, is despair. Okay? When we think about the word despair, you're probably on the floor like weeping, crying, hyperventilating, like you were like in despair. Okay?

I'm not saying that we can't be disappointed. Like, we can feel disappointed, but it's the level of disappointment that is the major indicator to it being an actual idol in your life, okay? So when I'm talking about, you know, you didn't get the job that you wanted or the relationship or, you know, you were expected to be married by a certain time, we should not be leaning on our own understanding, though, or our own timeline. It's okay to be disappointed and bummed. That doesn't mean that it was necessarily an idol in your life. It's...

It's just the amount of disappointment. That's okay because then guys this is our God though, okay? So let's say you feel convicted and you're like ooh actually there might be an idol in my life There might be something that I'm kind of treating at or looking at like a god. I'm looking at it for support I'm looking at it as a foundation. I rely on this thing. Ooh, we're feeling like maybe something has been revealed. I

The best part of it all, y'all, is there's grace. Our God is so kind. He's compassionate. So now this is when we rejoice because our dad has grace and mercy for us.

And it's funny that most of our episodes actually always lead back to mentioning God's grace and compassion, but it's because it's so true. Like, I feel like so many times we're like, but there's God's grace, but it's the truth y'all. Like, but there is God's grace, like hallelujah. So we get to just rejoice at the end of all of our sin. We need all the help we need from him, but he has grace for it. And he has so much patience. The church does still fall to idols all the time. And sometimes we don't even realize that we're doing it.

That's why it's always wise to go back to God and ask him if there's something in your life that is taking the spot in your heart that only he should be fulfilling.

So sometimes I think it's good to do a little check-in with the Lord. I just think it's good to do a heart check with the Lord every so often and let him reveal to you if there is anything in your life that you didn't realize that you're putting on a pedestal. Because sometimes it can be sneaky. Sometimes we don't realize. I want us to remember that it's because it's also a form of protection from the Lord. Okay, this isn't him just wanting to be,

put like a bunch of rules on us because he's a selfish God who wants all of our attention all the time and like he needs it. It's not like that. He's literally holy. So of course he deserves it.

But it's also because he knows that he's the only thing that can be there for you no matter what. Like he knows that he is the only thing that can be there for us no matter what. Nothing else can. If we rely on him and him alone, we will never be in danger or abandoned. Anything else that could be an idol to us is temporary and doesn't fulfill that spot forever. But he does, y'all.

it's actually an act of love from the lord for him to say keep me in that spot of your heart because that is what will keep you safe and close to me stay near to me child and i will take care of you rely on me and make me your foundation and you will never fall your home will never crumble and you will be fully supported by me forever like it's love y'all

It's because God wants us to be set up for success in this lifetime as we're here on planet Earth. He wants us to be set up successfully. And with that means that we have to have Him as our foundation.

Because if we make anything else, our foundation that we stand on, our support, what we rely on, what we put our hope in, it will crumble. It will fall. There is nothing more solid than the foundation of God. So it's not a punishment and it's not control. It's not that God's like, don't do this and don't do that just because he's like a controlling God. It's actually just him being a dad. It's safety and love from our heavenly father. Like he literally is just like,

guys, I'm telling you, this isn't the answer. I'm telling you, you need to trust me because I know how this goes down. I've seen it happen time and time again. Also, I am God. So I just, I know everything. And he's like, I know that this is going to end badly for you. So please don't do it. And believe it or not, God doesn't want to see us hurt. He doesn't.

But he also does allow us to feel the consequences of our decisions. And so when we feel the heartache or we feel the disappointment or we put these other things on pedestals that were never supposed to be there in the first place and we feel the consequences of that, we shouldn't look at God and be like, how could you let this happen? You know, I think...

The reason he allows us to feel those consequences is the same reason that a dad might let their child feel consequences for something. You know? Like, sometimes we just gotta learn the hard way, which is through experience. He gives us choices. We have free will. We can do that. But he's also like, hey, I told you not to do this. It is going to leave you in heartache and disappointment. But what's so amazing about him is...

is he's not the type of God that once we're in that pain and we're in the pain of those consequences and we're sitting in it, he's not the type of God to be like, all right, well now just deal with that on your own. I told you, shouldn't have done it. Like, obviously we feel the consequences, but then he comes in and he's a father and he comforts us in it, you know? And I think...

that's again where his grace is like he literally has so much compassion for us that yeah maybe he lets us kind of fall and scrape our knee but he will be there to pick us up and patch up our boo-boo on our knee and give it a kiss and say okay now don't go running off by yourself anymore i told you not to run down the driveway by yourself you're wearing your crocs you're

You didn't even have them in sports mode. You didn't even have the strap on your heel. You're running down the street with your Crocs on and you fell.

And didn't dad tell you not to do that? Okay, I love you. Let's get you cleaned up. Guys, like, right? Is that not God? He says, let's clean you up. It's going to be okay. This is going to sting a little bit. Just let me clean you up. He's putting some Neosporin on it. Put the Band-Aid on it. He kisses it. He heals it. That's God. That is our dad. And we can't look at him in that moment when he told us not to do it. We can't look at who?

Who are we to look at God and say, "My knee, God, God, how could you let..." He's gonna look at us and say, "Babe, I told you not to do that. And you chose to run outside in the dark and run down the driveway in your Crocs." But he's still gonna be our dad and he's still gonna be there to help clean us up, isn't

Is that not our dad? Come on. Come on, somebody. Thank you, God, that you are the father of never turning our back on us. And even when we do things that you tell us not to do, you're still there for us to clean up our knee and love us. He's so good. He's so good. So I don't want anyone to feel too bad if you've made an idol in your life. I know I have. We've all done it and we may accidentally do it again. But what's really cool

the next step so now we're gonna how do we actually get rid of an idol and make sure that it doesn't come back that's the last thing okay is we've we

We know the definition of an idol. We've heard examples. We have identified an idol in our life. Okay. Now, how, Allie, how do I get rid of it? And how do I make sure that it doesn't come back? Because I don't want to do something that the Lord tells me not to do and warns me not to do. This is so fun, y'all. We've been talking a lot about repentance ever since a few episodes ago. And

Let's just keep talking about it because it's freedom repentance is freedom. This is how we're gonna get freed from us Idolizing something it's in his kindness and his grace right so with with his kindness guys We're gonna go back to the image of him patching up our knee. Okay, so that's the Lord's kindness and his grace right where he's like I love you I didn't tell you to do that, but I'm here for you. I'm gonna help clean you up. It's that and

that leads us to repentance. It's his kindness that leads us to repentance. So we're sitting there with our dad and he's cleaning up our knee and we're crying and we go, dad, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I should have listened to you. I shouldn't have done it. Please forgive me, dad. I'm so sorry. Like that's what leads us to repentance is his kindness and his grace. Repentance then flows

fully allows us to surrender that thing to him. So then we're going to pray to God and ask him for the strength to never allow that idol to get back up on the platform that it was never supposed to be on and that whatever opened doors in your life that was allowing it

are shut tight with the door locked, okay? So if there were any doors that were open in your life that was kind of inviting this idol in, we're gonna pray, God, shut that door, lock it, Lord, don't let it ever open again, help me. And ask God for the ability to do that. Ask God for the ability to make sure that those doors are shut as well. And also the discernment. I think discernment is really good too. Like if you feel it kind of creeping up,

That discernment in your mind that goes, oh, I know what that is. I know what that is and I'm not touching it. I've done that before. I'm not going down that path again. Right? Because I think one thing that the enemy loves to do is he loves to try to throw things in our face that has worked before. You know what I mean? Like things that have worked.

The enemy has been following us around and analyzing us for our entire lives, right? So he does know the things that have worked before and so praying against that and also praying to God for the discernment to realize that it's like it's happening again. Like it's the same you're sniffing it out and you're like, uh, uh, I've done this before and I think another thing that you could pray for is even asking him to remove the desire from your heart so that you're not even tempted to go back to it.

That's a really fun prayer to do and it's worked in my life. I've definitely brought this to the pod before, but I think wine was definitely an idol in my life. I went to wine to feel comfort. Y'all.

You get it. Okay. Wine was just my thing. Wine was my thing. It was an idol in my life. It was a foundation in my life that should have never been. And I, in the beginning of my journey of like really quitting alcohol fully, I had to ask God to completely remove the desire from my heart because it was still tempting for a little bit. And I,

just kept praying that prayer where i was like god i pray away the temptation of alcohol and wine specifically i will not be tempted i will not miss it i will not crave it god give me the strength because the only way that you're going to fight off

Sin in general, to any temptation in sin, specifically the one we're talking about today though is idols, is the strength from God. That's the only way you're going to be able to fight it. That's the only way you're going to be able to resist it. That's the only way you're going to be able to turn the other cheek and just walk away from it is through the strength of God. I love you guys so much. And can I just like...

I just want to hype y'all up because I'm so proud of you guys. Like truly, I'm so proud of the ones who truly sat down, took your notebooks out. I literally feel it. I feel it. I see you guys in the spirit. Okay. I am so proud of you for the way that you are taking just this podcast so seriously, how you're taking the Holy Spirit seriously, how you're taking God seriously. Like

You genuinely are here to become closer to the Lord. You are here to genuinely learn more about God's heart. You're here to learn more about how you can be a better son or daughter to the Lord. And I just, I am so proud of you. I am so proud of you. You are doing amazing.

enough you're doing enough for God you know like if you're taking time to be in the secret place and read your Bible and you're doing things like listening to this podcast like you're doing enough and so I just really want to uplift somebody I actually I feel this in the spirit that this is going to help a lot of people listening right now if you've been beating on yourself that you haven't been doing enough for God or you haven't been um willing enough or hungry enough you're

y'all, you're here. You're here. And you made it all the way through this episode, even though it was probably convicting, even though you probably felt called out by God, right? In a way, you're here and you're willing to learn and you love God. I know you love God because you're here and he loves you and he's so proud of you for the efforts that you've put in to know him. So that was just a little inside message straight from your father that he wanted you to know that he is so proud of

I'm so proud of y'all. Like for real guys. Thank you for being here. Thank you for valuing this podcast so much. Thank you for thinking that it's worth your time. Like I'm still just blown away at the way you guys have been responding to this podcast. And I'm really, really grateful for this community. I'm so proud of you guys.

I'm so, I'm so proud of you guys. Like I literally can't say it enough. I'm so proud of you. Yeah, thank you for being here and thank you for loving Jesus. I don't know. Just thanks for loving Jesus. He's the best. I am obsessed with him and I'm just so grateful that I get to just talk about him all day with you guys. What? That's so fun. Thank you, Jesus, for showing up in this episode. Thank you, Jesus, for...

checking our hearts because we need that. We need that. We need our hearts to be checked. All right. I love y'all. Happy Friday, guys. Can we also do something kind of cool? Can we do something cool this weekend and into the next week until I see y'all next Friday? Can we show somebody how cool Jesus is? Can we love somebody like Jesus would? Spread his goodness, his compassion, his generosity. I love you guys. I'll see you in the next episode.

If you guys can't wait until next Friday for another episode, you are in luck. Subscribe to our Patreon where you will have early access to future episodes and occasional surprise bonus episodes. Make sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok for more content. And if this episode spoke to you, please write us a five-star review since it helps the podcast so much. We'll see you guys next time.