Bob Lepine courageously went “where angels fear to tread” as he talked to a room full of women this afternoon about the three areas he believes can easily take on an unhealthy, idolatrous nature: food, beauty, and control.
Of course it’s not wrong to pay attention to what you eat, how you look, or to try to order your space. But Mr. Lepine really challenged us to examine whether we’re being influenced in our thinking more by the culture or by the Word of God in these three areas:
Food
Anorexia . . . Bulemia . . . Emotional eating . . . Even an obsession with healthy eating can drift into idolatry. When food is an idol, it takes on proportions that food was never intended to have in your life.
Beauty
The world says your significance depends on your outer appearance. But a beautiful shrew is still a shrew. It takes less than two minutes to figure that out. On the other hand, a plain woman with inner beauty is beautiful, attractive, and captivating. The culture wouldn’t say that, but God’s Word does!
Control
Every woman wants to feel safe and secure, and thinks the way to make that happen is to be in control of all things at all times. Good luck with that!
Life is out of your control. But it’s not out of control. It might feel like it, but it’s all in God’s control.
Learn to trust Him. He is doing a perfecting work in your character that will bring out a radiance and a beauty in you that couldn’t be reflected any other way.
So What’s My Idol?
Here are just a few questions Bob Lepine asked—that he got from David Powlison—to determine what your idol is. If you’re really serious about getting to the root of your idol, and not just breezing through another blog post, you’ll have to invest some serious time honestly answering the following questions:
- What do I organize my life around?
- What do I want, wish for, crave?
- What do I obsess over? What do I find my mind instinctively drifting toward?
- What do I talk about to others?
- What am I willing to sacrifice an inordinate amount of time or money to obtain?
- What causes me great anxiety or stress?
- Where do I go for comfort? Food? Shopping?
What Do I Do From Here?
Do you identify with any of this? If so, you’ve taken a very important first step! Now confess your idolatry to God, and repent of it. But don’t stop there! Beginning feasting on the Word so that His desires—and priorities—become yours.
(I’d love to hear your answers to any of the questions in this post! I’ll look forward to reading your thoughts tomorrow when I get back online to tell you about all that’s taken place since this Mr. Lepine’s breakout session.)
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