"Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry." 1 Corinthians 10:14

Given the rain outside, and my apparent unwillingness to do anything academically productive for more than a few minutes at a time, I've just been reading. If you haven't yet already, I would definitely recommend checking out "Counterfeit Gods" by Timothy Keller. It just gives so much to think about.

I'd always thought of idols as vices, like money, or lust, or greed. I could see them being people too - elevating someone to a god-like status, expecting a relationship with someone to solve all of your problems. But it hadn't, even though it probably should have, occurred to me that "anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the best things in life." How wrapped up can we be in great things, in a passion for something or a desire to help someone, that we end up putting all that we are into them? And what does this mean for our relationship with God?

And how many times have I said that if I didn't have my friends and relationships, I would feel absolutely hopeless and dejected? How many times have I said that "I would probably kill myself" if that were to happen? And it really made me realize that I've been progressing down a path of essentially worshiping human interaction, and essentially humankind. My belief in an innate human goodness, and my desire to be a part of that has just so greatly overshadowed everything else. I've spent so long saying that I would give up anything for my friends, and for the most part that's true, but would I give up God? In the end, I'm never alone, because even if I were to be deprived of all human relationships somehow, I would still have my relationship with Him.

It's so easy to idolize the good things, to feel like they'll solve your problems by virtue of their merit. But there really can be too much of a good thing. Honestly, I just need to think so much more about so many things, reevaluate things, and pray. And to finish this book eventually, since I'm only about 1/3 of the way through. There's so much I don't understand, and so much I have to learn, and will always have to learn.