My favorite idol

I am my favorite idol.

And likely you are your favorite idol.

Let me explain why I even decided to write such things in a blog post. It began yesterday morning.

It is an interesting phenomenon -- though it should not be a surprising one -- that a five-minute walk from Washington's Union Station to the office at which I work can provide insights into sin and the gospel. As I normally do, I was walking on a sidewalk past a federal judiciary building. It is a wide sidewalk, but it is not wide enough for four people to walk side by side or pass each other.

Two young ladies were walking toward me, still giving me enough room to pass them without stepping onto the dirt or grass. Another young lady decided to pass them as I approached. She was in a hurry. She had her ear buds in and was paying attention to her phone. She seemed determined to get around them at that moment and appeared convinced someone would yield to her. I did -- stepping onto the dirt to my right.

Now, I have yielded to numerous people before -- both males and females -- on the sidewalk around that building when it was necessary. And I certainly believe men should put ladies before themselves. Yesterday morning, however, I was struck by the sheer self-centeredness of what I had just observed.

For this young lady, it was all about her. Her needs -- or desires -- were uppermost in her mind, and the world at that moment was to bend to her. She was both an idol and an idol worshiper in one package.

Yet, I realized quickly, the same is true of me -- and of you. It may not be manifested in the same way or to the same degree, but it is in us. We inherited this "it's-all-about-me" spirit from our father, Adam. Afflicted with this common heritage, we are absorbed with idol worship. By nature, we do not humble ourselves before the one true God. Instead, we genuflect most often before ourselves -- worshiping ourselves and placing our desires at the center of the universe.

Wonderfully and stunningly, God extends grace to idol worshipers. He saves them from their self-centeredness, self-importance and self-worship -- making them true worshipers of the only One worthy of worship. He does this by mercifully opening our eyes to who He is and who we are, then enabling us to cast ourselves upon the Savior from sin.

Sadly, we still can be self-centered self-worshipers at times, even as those who have tasted of the greatness and glory of knowing the only God.

What is the remedy to self-worship? A major part is reminding ourselves of the gospel.

How do we do that? We look at God. We look at ourselves. We look at what He has done.

We remind ourselves of the greatness, glory and holiness of God. We remember the sin nature that indwells us. We proclaim to ourselves the unmerited favor we have received. We preach to ourselves the perfect life and totally acceptable death of Jesus in which is our only hope. We declare to ourselves His righteousness – and no merit of our own -- is our ground of acceptance before the Holy Judge. We profess Christ’s sacrifice is completely sufficient to pardon us of all our sins. We humble ourselves before the God who has humbled Himself to rescue us from a fully deserved condemnation.

In preaching the gospel to ourselves, we also see others – especially our brothers and sisters in Christ – in the correct light. We remember that we, as recipients of grace, are to be bestowers of grace to others. We love them, particularly other Christians, in a way that shows their interests are more important to us than our own. We dwell not on their shortcomings but on the demonstrations of grace in their lives. We rejoice in what God has done and is doing in their lives.

We turn away from our “it’s-all-about-me” idol worship to worship the One who put our interests before His own, and we sacrificially serve others made in His image.

We will still encounter self-worshipers on the sidewalks of life, but hopefully they will decreasingly be us.