We were in a conversation with a person from our community.  She knows I am a pastor.  She professes to believe in Jesus.  In the conversation we had she asked me what I preached about this past Sunday at the United Church.  I said, "I preached about idols."  Her reaction almost made me smile because it was obvious that what she initially thought about when she heard the word 'idol' is more than likely what most of us think about when we hear that word.  We think about something like a statue or like the golden calf fashioned by the Hebrews when they grew impatient waiting for Moses to come down from Mt. Sinai.  But idols are much more complex and pervasive than this.  And as we continued to talk it was also clear she hadn't thought much about how idolatry can be a real issue even with the absence of so called 'graven images'.
As my friend and pastor, Bill Senyard says, "Idols are anything that you run to instead of the living God to give you value, worth, meaning, joy, rest, intimacy and life.  They are anything that you allow to measure your value, your identity, your success, your sense of being right or your honor."  Money, power, performance, approval, comfort, control, recreation, physical fitness, physical appearance all are examples of good things that can become ultimate things.
We can get at what our idols are by pondering a few questions:  1)What is my greatest nightmare?  What do I worry about most?  2)What do I rely on or comfort myself with when things go badly or become difficult?  3)What makes me feel the most self-worth?  What am I the most proud of?
The process of even thinking about this challenging subject can be of value in terms of more regularly turning our hearts toward our Lord.  It certainly will be part of the life long struggle we have against the 'world, the flesh and the devil.'
Knowing our need is a great place to be, actually.  Pleading for the power of the Holy Spirit with an open heart and mind will move us toward a more God dependent and God centered sense of being.