Has Your “Religious” Experience become an Idol?

Some good religious practices have become an idol. When religious doing is doing separate from the substance of Jesus’ work on the cross, it becomes idolatry.

Is your Sunday-go-meeting attendance out of obligation, habitual, for the approval and to gain the approval of others? Do you get satisfaction from your spiritual performance and personal holiness more than satisfaction in what God has already accomplished for you in Christ Jesus. Do you feel spiritual superior about your biblical knowledge and gain satisfaction by shooting Bible verses to back up your doctrine? Do you relish debating theology with others and feel superior when you have what you consider a win, but get angry and defensive when you’re theology is challenged? do you feel that you are on a higher spiritual plateau because a title is attached to your name. are you more of a word person than a Word person? Are you uncomfortable with hurting, lonely people and to avoid engagement you say “I will pray for you” as a way to avoid intimate, personal relationship?

If your answer is "yes" to any of the above, there is a good chance you have taken the gracious gifts God has graciously given and used them for your own selfish egotistic purposes.

You have commandeered the gifts of God to make yourself look good through your doing, what you know, and your personal spiritual growth. This kind of idolatry is hard to pinpoint because the “fruit bearing” looks to be good fruit.

But, none the less; it's idolatry.

Any object or practice that becomes the focus of our lives can become our idol. Some things we may think are spiritually neutral really are not. Even things morally neutral, like our career, a sport, wealth, fame, education, intelligence, good looks or any passion we value more than God can be our idol.

To place our identity in anything other than God, we are making an idol out of it.