"People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar, with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship--and this is what I am going to proclaim to you." ~ Acts 17:22-23
I have always loved the analogy that our mind is a house. Everyone's house is different depending on the person. Some houses look extravagant on the outside, but are cold, dark, and falling apart on the inside. Some houses look like they are falling apart, but really, the inside of their house is made of gold. You get the idea.
Inside the house are rooms that are used to serve a specific area of your mind. Your fears, love life, dreams, intelligence. The rooms differ in size based on the importance in the life of the person. The rooms sometimes collect dust because they are purposely avoided. Some are locked, not wanting anyone to ever enter and see what's inside. Again, every house is different.
However, there is one area that is found in every house. It is a long, dimly lit hallway with podiums aligning the entire walls. Each podium holds an object that is of great importance to the owner. An importance that is at the level of worship. The objects come in all varieties. From iPhones, cigarettes, and sports, to celebrities, friends, and politics. I call this area the Hall of Idols.
In the Hall of Idols, every idol has a similar label that reads: AN UNKNOWN GOD. A lot of the time we are unaware of the idols that we put on display. We aren't even aware that we are worshiping them.
This isn't a new concept to grasp. The Bible shows in the book of Acts how the people of Athens had the variety of household gods, including the ones marked "TO AN UNKOWN GOD." They put their faith into an inanimate object that they believed would bring them complete joy. That obviously was not the case.
I learned more about this idea of idolatry in the modern age at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes conference this past weekend. Idolatry is worshiping something instead of God. It can be broken down simpler than that. We are all religious because we all want something. When we see something advertised on TV, we see it and we want to be a part of the movement. We don't think we will be as good as we could be if we didn't have a certain something. Basically, you put something in such a high place that you would consider it "life".
Athletes definitely are people that struggle with this. Many athletes put 110% effort into their sport so that they can be the best. They live, breathe, and speak their sport. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with going all in for a sport. That is what you are supposed to do as an athlete. But what if tomorrow you were injured? What if you got kicked off the team? What if you were never allowed to play that sport again?
Heavy stuff to think about. You would probably be depressed. You would have no purpose because you would never be able to practice your religion again. You may even become depressed. That is what happens when you worship something.
In Acts, Paul says that we are ignorant about the very thing we worship. Something that would probably be in everyone's Hall of Idols is the cell phone. I know it would be in mine. I have my cell phone nearby at all times. I check my social media accounts about every twenty minutes to see if someone liked my status, posted something new, or if there was a major news story. I currently have a 276 day Snapchat streak. Social media is a great tool and I am not saying that it is all bad, but when it is at the point where I am checking it consistently, I need to take a step back and see what my phone is becoming. My phone was becoming my replacement to God.
What would you do if your phone broke? Would you be able to function in society without having the social media to check up on, the selfies to take, or the texts to receive? If your answer, is no, your phone has become your idol.
Everyone fails to see all of the objects in their Hall of Idols. They run down the hallway when they start to notice how tall some of the podiums become. They turn off the lights because they don't want to see what lines the walls.
