A few weeks ago, we discussed spending our free time on spiritual disciplines – let’s return to the subject of spending time and ask this – what do your free time activities tell you about your heart? There is a heart level competition for what you love the most. What we spend our free time on is often what we most dearly love. The Bible tells us that we were created to, and therefor ought to, love God the most, but the Bible also tells us that we sinful exchange loving God for loving lesser things – these lesser things are called “idols.”

Take a moment and assess last week. What did you spend your free time on? When it wasn’t free time, what did you hope to do during free time? What did you spend your resources (money, energy, and time) on during or in preparation for free time? Answering these questions will help reveal your heart – you either loved God above all or you loved something else above all. Knowing my own sinful heart, I can confidently say that you, like I, spent much of last week loving idols.

The Bible is clear that idolatry leads to death. When you love idols, you love death. Scary, but true. Yet, when you love God, He grants you the life you were made for and need. Practically speaking, you put your life on the line when you love idols. So, identify your idols and destroy them. Pinpoint what tempts your devotion away from God and remove it. This may require drastic steps (getting rid of a cellphone, discontinuing Netflix, breaking up with your significant other, or installing accountability software), but it is worth it to devote your life to God and be blessed by Him as you were meant to be.