Idolatry...in my life

Idolatry...in my own life
It's a sobering moment to hear God tell you in a gentle and loving way that, "You have an idol." I know what an idol is but just for the sake of clarity, I'll elaborate: Anything you choose Over God.Whatever you look to for security, comfort, assurance, validation, or to make you feel better. Our flesh will make an idol out of anything. It could be shopping, food, fly fishing, video games, romance novels, another person,etc. "Over, above or apart from God is an idol," according to a teaching I listened to last night by John Eldrege. Well, my confession is that over the last week to two weeks, food has been an idol in my life. The worst part about it is that I knew it and still allowed it to take precidence over my relationship with God. I'm not a binge eater, not like that, but I found comfort from eating. Instead of my morning alone time with God, I'd lolly gag around the house, have breakfast and start my day, usually out the door. And even last night as I layed in bed, John's teaching was playing and I knew in my heart that I wasn't at peace with God, I still wasn't ready to end my sinful behavior. I deliberately was choosing what I knew was wrong. The teaching was timely and convicting, and I'm thankful for that. I began to ask the Holy Spirit to soften my heart to receive the wisdom being shared by John about idolatry. It worked. I humbled my heart and took everything in, applying it to my life as much as possible and repenting genuinely in my heart to God. I knew I was freed in that moment. You don't realize how easily we can lose the freedom that Jesus has given us. For example, if you tell a lie, you then become a slave to it because you have to remember what you told the person and who you told it to. You gotta watch yourself from that point on. You became a slave again to bondage that Jesus died to free us from. I had that head knowledge but I still chose to pick food as my comfort instead of God. I have no logical or good excuse or reason for that but I'm just so thankful for God and His unconditional love for me. It was His kindness that led me to repentance. Food is a source of life, true, but not in the same way that God gives life, you know? There is a balance and when Jesus is the center of my life, then things fall into proper order and i'm in that place right now. Reprioritizing. I used to fast once a week and found it to be very beneficial because it kept my flesh in restriction and I know that without occasionally depriving myself of all the wants i desire, then I typically become a slave to my flesh. This blog is the perfect example of that. So anyways, with all that said, take a lesson from me and evaluate your own heart. What do You choose over God? You can say you love God but what is it that you spend all your time daydreaming about or spending your money on? What do you look to as your source of life? What do you give yourself over to? That's worship. That's idolatry, if it isn't God. I hope this is helpful to someone.......thanks for reading.