D.A. Carson

"Here then is a practical test as to whether the excellence I pursue is really for the glory and praise of God or for my own self-image.  If the things I value are taken away, is my joy in the Lord undiminished?  Or am I so tied to my dreams that the destruction of my dreams means I am destroyed as well?"

D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation, p.142

David Powlison

David Powlison, paraphrasing John Calvin, wrote, “The evil in our desires often lies not in what we want, but in the fact that we want it too much.” It’s difficult to improve upon this insight. The “cravings of sinful man” are legitimate desires that have become false gods we worship. It’s wanting too much the things of this fallen world. A sinful craving is when a legitimate desire for financial success becomes a silent demand for financial success; an interest in clothes and fashion becomes a preoccupation; love of music morphs into an obsession with the hottest band; or the desire to enjoy a good movie becomes a need to see the latest blockbuster.

There may be nothing wrong with these desires in and of themselves; but when they dominate the landscape of our lives, when we must have them or else!-we’ve succumbed to idolatry and worldliness. And as Calvin says, our hearts are a perpetual factory of idols. We’re pumping out these thingson a regular basis.

Harry Schaumburg

Putting God first is the first of the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament.  In the New Testament Jesus reiterates this primary commandment: "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and will all your mind and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30).  That is why idolatry is the essence of sin.  If we seek our own will and what we want to do, we seek what satisfies us before we seek God; we first seek out what feeds our well-being---and we can end up seeking spirituality above seeking God and His will.  Thus we end up placing our values above God Himself.  And the result is that God is not God in our hearts!  It is not "my utmost for His highest;" it is "my utmost for myself."

Harry Schaumburg, Undefiled: Redemption from Sexual Sin, Restoration for Broken Relationships, p.101

Thomas Brooks

“Everything that a man leans upon but God—will be a dart which will certainly pierce his heart through and through. He who leans only upon Christ—lives the highest, choicest, safest and sweetest life.”

Tim Keller

"Anger, fear, discouragement come because of 'idols' - good things have become things we feel (at an emotional level) will really save us and give us worth.  It is only when these things are threatened or removed that we turn and find our safety and significance in the Lord.  That makes us stable and deep."

Tim Keller

"the reason we have idols, is because down deep we don't trust God.  The serpent suggested that we couldn't trust God, and that is what we have believed ever since.  The real reason we don't worship him fully is because we are afraid that, if we give ourselves to him utterly and make him the supreme desire of our hearts, he will let us down."

Tim Keller

"This is always the main way we get renewal in our lives.  God will not help you out of your obvious, visible problems (money problems, relationship problems, etc.) until you see the idols that we are worshiping right beside the Lord.  They have to be removed first....We are not to add anything to Jesus Christ as a requirement for being happy.  We are not to use God to get what we really want, but we are to see and make God that which we really want."