What is an idol? Anything more important to you than God, that is what an idol is. Anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God. Anything you seek to give, what you should only give to God—of your time, your energy, your love, or your interests. It is whatever you look at or imagine in your mind or in your heart of hearts, and say,
Derek W. H. Thomasif I have that, then I will feel as though my life had meaning.For example,if only I had that person, that wife, that husband; if only I had that house; if only I had that bank account; if only I had that talent; if only I had those looks, then I would be content.1
18 “What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols!