Discerning Your Idols

At the heart of every human problem is our desire to put something in the place of God. In other words, the root of our sinful and broken nature is our idolatry. From the Garden of Eden until now, we have a way with taking created things and putting them in the place of Creator. We take good things God made, and put them in the place of God himself. The Apostle Paul puts it this way,

"They exchanged the truth about God for a lie,

and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator,

who is forever praised. Amen."

Romans 1:25

But what are these 'things' that we worship and serve in the place of God. I know I don't physically bow down before statues or images, so I'm good right? Well, as I've been packing up to move next week, I came across this sheet buried in my room. It has been very helpful to me in discerning what the idols of my heart really are. How you answer these questions are very insightful in pointing you to what you really serve/worship. 

• What do I worry about most?
• What, if I failed or lost it, would cause me to feel that I did not even want to live?
• What do I use to comfort myself when things go bad or get difficult?
• What do I do to cope? What are my release valves? What do I do to feel better?
• What preoccupies me? What do I daydream about?
• What makes me feel the most self-worth? Of what am I the proudest? For what do I want to be known?
• What do I lead with in conversations?
• Early on, what do I want to make sure other people know about me?
• What prayer, unanswered, would make me seriously think about turning away from God?
• What do I really want and expect out of life? What would really make me happy?