August 21, 2026
Friday, August 21
Addiction is a terrible thing. At the start, it seems harmless. We make a few bets on some ball games. We go out for drinks every night with co-workers. We view some “not safe for work” images on our smart phone. We take someone else’s prescription medication for pain or anxiety. Yet once that addiction gets its hooks into us, it consumes us. We find ourselves willing to do anything, even things that once were abhorrent to us, in order to feed that monster. We hate it and love it at the same time.
Idolatry is like that, too. We don’t reject God. We trust Him to save our souls. But we begin to outsource our need for pleasure, purpose, security, or validation to something else. And soon, that something else becomes the dominating force of our lives, consuming everything else.
In Exodus 32 verse 6, when it says the Israelites “rose up to play,” it doesn’t mean they pulled out the pickleball paddles and the domino tables. The Hebrew word rendered “play” refers to sexual immorality and drunkenness. By the time Moses got there, they were so out of control, he asked for his Levites to restrain the people, and they ended up killing three thousand of their fellow Israelites.
Idolatry consumes us so completely, we won’t listen to reason. We become enraged if anyone threatens our idol. In Acts 19, a riot breaks out in the city of Ephesus because the preaching of the Gospel was drawing people away from the worship of the goddess Diana. Diana’s temple was a source of revenue for the city, and some of the people who profited from that worship started the riot, because they thought their livelihoods were being taken away by this new faith. They dragged several Christians into an arena, threatening to kill them, and chanted “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” for two solid hours. These were civilized people, but they completely lost their minds because their idol was threatened.
Think about the last few times you’ve lost your temper. I believe most human anger can be traced to some form of idolatry. A few hypothetical examples:
Your friends tell you what a co-worker is saying about you, and you vow to make her pay. Why? You know it’s not true, so why does it bother you? Because other people in the office might believe it. Your reputation matters more to you than anything.
Your wife complains that you’re not at home enough, and you yell at her in return. You should be glad she wants you around more; why does this make you mad? Because her request means less time at work, or on the golf course, the lake, or the hunting lease.
Your parents take away your cell phone and you explode. You beg, plead, “Anything but this!” Your anger is a clue to your idolatry, because it has consumed your life.
What does your anger reveal about what you truly worship?
“Oh Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would search me from top to bottom, and show me what my anger reveals about my idols. Then, I pray that you would lead me to true repentance. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Senior Pastor
First Baptist Conroe
More from Pastor Jeff at his website: jeffbergerwriting.com
