Why Calvin Was Right: Three Reasons
John Calvin famously observed that the human heart is a factory of idols.
He’s right, of course. We are prodigious in our ability to produce idols. We can make idols out of anything, and the better the thing is to begin with – love of family, love of country, desire for success in ministry – the more deadly the idolatry.
But why is this so? Why are we so adept at setting up a created thing in the place of God – looking to a created thing for our identity, our protection, our provision? I think there are three reasons:
Human culture: bent toward idolatry
If everyone around you is an idolater, idolatry seems normal, and you’re an oddball if you’re not playing along. Idolatry is so deeply embedded in our customs that anyone who declines to participate is an outsider.
The business world often expects leaders to sacrifice their families on the altar of corporate success. Some coaches expect their athletes to focus all their attention on training and conditioning, regardless of what that focus does to their studies or their family life.
And the love of money is so deeply embedded in our culture that the title of the game show could stand as a rhetorical question, suggesting its own answer: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Of course, everyone does! From where most of us stand, wealth looks like the ultimate answer to our problems, and the desire for money takes on the proportions of idolatry.
I have used this simple four-step thought experiment to help people see how short-sighted this mindset is.
I first ask them to identify the three biggest problems in their lives at that moment.
Then I ask them to imagine that they just came into a gigantic windfall. They will never have to worry about money again for the rest of their lives.
Then I ask how many of those top three problems were solved by the windfall. That’s when people realize that as much as they feel the keen need for money, wealth is incapable of solving some of their most pressing problems.
But then the surprise final question: Now that they are independently wealthy, what new problems must they deal with? What does this new wealth do to their relationships with their friends and their family? What new responsibilities does this wealth now press on them?
The love of money really is the root of all kinds of evil (2 Tim. 6:10), and when everyone around you is an idolater (and most of us are), it’s hard to conceive of another way of living.
My own habits: bent toward idolatry
Here’s where it gets personal. Idolatry is so deeply ingrained in my habits that I commit idolatry routinely, without even realizing it. I would love to blame the influence of my culture (see above), but I ratify my culture’s idolatry every time I bow my heart to my own idols. And that bowing has become part of my routine, both in my inner life and in my behavior.
This means that for the Spirit to break me free from these deadly habits, He must first draw my attention to the fact that my rebellion has become customary. It is, of course, unpleasant to be made aware that some ordinary part of my mindset is actually a token of my rebellion against the Almighty. But that is what it takes to break my idolatrous habits.
My own heart: steeped in idolatry
Here’s the bad news. Even if my culture didn’t influence me toward idolatry, even if my habits hadn’t become contaminated with idolatry, Calvin was right: my heart has demonstrated a remarkable capacity to create new idols all by itself. Thanks to the DNA mutation introduced into the human condition (see Genesis 3), I have a natural tendency to generate idols without any assistance from the outside.
With all this working against me – my culture, my habits, my own wicked heart – can I ever hope to break free from the idolatry that is so deeply embedded in my life?
Here’s the good news: the Spirit has committed Himself to rooting out our idols and cleansing our hearts. The process is painstaking, sometimes tedious, never smooth and linear. Toppling the idols in my heart is a three-steps-forward-two-steps-back process. But God’s Spirit knows what He’s doing. He has made it His mission to shut down the idol factory in my heart, demolish the idol-making machinery, and renovate the space so that it can be used as a cathedral dedicated to the worship of the Almighty.
The Apostle John closed his first letter with this simple command: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).
Thanks be to God that I don’t have to do all this on my own.
Persevere,
Paul Pyle
Pastor of Discipleship