Tim Keller is right when he says that work is an idol and I gave into that sin big time this week. Give me one tight deadline and everything else goes out the window, and I noticed this time that what suffered most of all was my relationship with my little girl. Her best friend last week was Mr. TV and though I felt like the baddest mum in the world I didn’t quit working, I just didn’t like it.
It got me thinking about idols. The Israelites gave up on their gracious God, the one true God who is full of mercy and compassion to run off with the false gods of the nations around them. Why did they do it? I always assumed it was only because these gods promised them great things, similar to the promises work has for me: money, independence and creative expression. That would have been the start of things for sure but when you mess with idols you get burned. The Israelites found themselves trapped by idols that demanded the lives of their children and other horrible things. They didn’t like it but they had to stay there for fear of what the false god might do. To a lesser extent I found myself sacrificing the good of my child to worship my work for fear of losing my job and everything that comes with it (see above). I realized that idolatry is not always something we do because we enjoy it but we do it because we feel we HAVE to do it (or else).
So what is the solution for me? Surely it isn’t to tell me to stop working and be a good mum, I have already failed at that. Instead it is to tell me about the only God who rescues me from my idolatry, the God who came to earth to die for my idolatry on the cross. His name is Jesus Christ. When I look at the cross I see how selfish I am and how much Jesus suffered for me. The Holy Spirit reminds me of the cross to (slowly) change my heart from serving work to serving Jesus and my family. “For what great nation has a god as near to them as the Lord our God is near to us when we call on him?” (Deut 4:7).
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