Sitting in church Sunday, listening to the sermon reminded me of the best selling books on Killing Lincoln and Kennedy. The sermon had nothing to do with those books, rather the Scripture we read made me think about writing a book called, Killing Idols.

Now, I am  not about talking little statues. Rather, the kind of idols that Colossians 3 talks about–sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires and covetousness–a list that makes most of us a little uncomfortable when we read it.

Would Killing Idols be a best seller? Doubtful, because most of us like to entertain those idols, at least a little.

Colossians 3:5 begins with the directive, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you…” and then the list from above follows. Whoa… Apostle Paul, those are strong words. He tells us to put to death those things that tempt us to form an idol. And that can only be done by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Otherwise, we end up trying to manage and regulate our idols. We may even come to worship them more than God.

The Apostle Paul wants us to go beyond sin maintenance and actually destroy the sin that is in us by repentance and partnering with the Holy Spirit. If we don’t kill the idols of our heart, they will eventually kill us! When we were made new creations by Christ, he gave us the power to defeat our sinful nature. He did this on the cross. He who had no sin, became sin so we could be the righteousness of Christ. We are the righteousness of God capable of putting sin to death because of Christ in us.

So ask yourself, are you putting anything above God? If so, that is an idol and you’re worshiping it. Do you resemble more of your old sin nature than  Christ who indwells you? Then your attention and focus are on that sin nature; that’s worship. Sin creeps into your life with a little compromise here and there; a little pornography, a little envy and coveting, a little impurity, giving in to temptation and finally succumbing to sin. Stop worshiping those idols; put them to death!

Then Paul tells us to put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Does this list describe you? I certainly need work on this! But here is the good news. As we allow the work of Christ to dwell in us richly (Colossians 3:14), He makes us look more and more like Him. He becomes our focus and our object of worship. That’s the antidote to idol worship: GOD WORSHIP. Put Him above everything else.

So put to death those idols and walk as one who is chosen by God, holy and beloved. “And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord, giving thanks to the Father through Him.” Give up the idol and worship the One who created you.