Not only can our emotions point to where idols may lurk in our lives, but they can also enliven worship where we do want it directed: toward the Lord of heaven. This is because our emotions were built into humanity in the first place to connect our hearts to the Lord himself. We were made to love what he loves and hate what he hates. 

Idols of the Heart

Two grease-dripping, foot-long, melt-in-the-mouth tender cheesesteaks. This, I learned, had been dinner the past three straight nights for the man now fidgeting in the soft, wingbacked chair in my counseling office. While a caloric catastrophe, his over-indulgence in Philly’s finest fare (and I do recommend you try the authentic item if you are ever in the greater Philadelphia area—just one per day though) was actually a victory for our work together. You see, my friend was talking to me as a counselor in the first place because his appetites had ruined his life and marriage. He was faking overnight business trips so he could douse his bloodstream with liquor and marijuana while binge-watching pornography. Our conversation occurred on the first day he’d been clean for more than twenty-four hours, and he found himself ravenous for something to tickle his taste buds, something to give him a physical rush. Hence the cheesesteaks.

While we celebrated his fledgling progress, my friend was also brought up short. He saw that his desperation for stimulation was not gone; it had simply latched onto another object. The evidence was inescapable that he was swapping out one set of lusts (booze, weed, porn) for another (food). Neither the “idols” in his heart (e.g., pleasure, comfort, escape) nor their grip on him had changed essentially.

Engaging Emotions Helps Us Combat Idolatry

One of the most powerful ways we can take up arms against the idols that vie to rule over each of us is to seek the Spirit’s help in engaging our emotions. Our emotions are like a map showing our deepest desires. Follow your emotions, and you will learn a great deal about what you truly worship, for “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21).

Emotions help us diagnose idolatry.

The first and most obvious way that our emotions help us fight back against idolatry is by highlighting what our idols actually are. Whatever your anxieties, your anger, your joy, and your grief swirl around is going to be something significant to you. “Important“ does not automatically mean idolatrous (more on this below), but you certainly won’t have any idols in your life that don’t register as important on the Richter scale of your emotions.

Scripture gives numerous examples of emotions betraying underlying idolatries. Take Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8. Luke reiterates six times in three verses (Acts 8:9–11) that Simon is “amazing” or “great” in the eyes of the local populace. Thus, when the apostles come with miracles accompanying their preaching, Simon is severely upstaged. To his credit and in God’s mercy, he believes in Christ. However, he still yearns to be at the center of the action and, with a naively pathetic foolishness, sidles up to Peter to see if he can buy some of this miracle-producing power for himself. He demonstrates that his core loyalty is still dedicated to being “great” and people being “amazed” by him. His nascent faith has not yet undone his obsession with the praise of his fellow man. This is idolatry of the heart in its simplest form.

Here is where emotions come in. In Peter’s rebuke of Simon’s lust to harness the fire of Pentecost for the swelling of his own reputation, he descries in Simon “the gall of bitterness.” This emotion, this “bitterness” at being displaced, reveals his idolatrous craving for the spotlight. Our emotions always point toward the true objects of our worship.

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