Childish Idolatry

Did you know that most adults practice the sin of Parent Idolatry. It's true. Maybe it's you. Here are some questions to help you determine if it's you.

1. Does what your parents say about you have any effect on how you feel about yourself?
2. Does how your parents treat your siblings have any effect on how you feel about yourself?
3. Do you worry or wonder about how your parents will respond to decision you are making about your life?
4. Have you ever made a decision but then changed it because your parents didn't agree with it?
5. Do you ever seek your parents advice over your spouse?

If you answered yes to any of the above you may be guilty of Parent Idolatry. What this means is that part of your brain is still working from a child perspective. To a child parents are gods. Parents know everything, they have no faults, they know their children better than anyone else and in a child's mind his parents created him. But the truth is that parents are just two people who had sex. Think about it.(or not, yuck!) In the creation process of a child the parents play a very small role. All they do is connect the sperm to the egg so that you can be formed. Parents are merely connectors and caregivers for a child.

The real creator is God. He is the one that created you and he is the one who truly knows you intimately. He is the one that we should be looking to for approval and he is where we determine our identity. The best part about this system is that God will always think you are special, he will never compare you or look down on you like your human parents. His is the one who is capable of perfect unconditional love. As human parents we try very hard to show unconditional love to our kids but because we are flawed the way we love will be flawed and if our children are taught that we are where they get their identity then they will end up very disappointed and spending quite a bit of money in counseling.

Jesus' first sermon was on this same issue. In Luke chapter two we are given a story of Jesus in his youth. Because of some cultural circumstances Jesus is unknowing left in Jerusalem by his parents. When they return to look for him they find him in the temple teaching. Check out this exchange:

"The next day they found him in the Temple seated among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. The teachers were all quite taken with him, impressed with the sharpness of his answers. But his parents were not impressed; they were upset and hurt.

His mother said, "Young man, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been half out of our minds looking for you."

He said, "Why were you looking for me? Didn't you know that I had to be here, dealing with the things of my Father?" But they had no idea what he was talking about.

So he went back to Nazareth with them, and lived obediently with them. His mother held these things dearly, deep within herself. And Jesus matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people.

Do you see what happened. In the very first words that we get from Jesus in the Bible we see him dethroning his parents as his god and sharing that his God was the father in heaven. They asked why have you done this to us and he says my life is not about you but about God. Jesus still loved his parents and the Bible even makes a point to tell us that lived with them in obedience, but we need to see here that their approval was not what he was after. This is a very important lesson for all of us to learn not just as kids but as parent also. Our job is not put ourselves in a divine position in our children's lives but to position our children's hearts on the truly divine father in heaven. God put children in our lives so that we could raise them or disciple them into a relationship with Him. If we decide to do anything else we might as well start putting money away for the counseling sessions.