Crushing idols.

Wow. Sometimes lessons are hard to learn and even harder to swallow. Sometimes contentment leads way to pain because the only way the light can be shed on darkness is for something to break or crack. I've been learning this lesson the hard way for the last few days. Sometimes (well, more often than not) good things are our worst idols because they are sneaky. Good things should not be bad and sinful, right? Well, not when held in their right place but when they take over the spot in your heart that is God shaped that is when the trouble starts and the idol begins to take root and eventually take over. 

Idols can certainly take various shapes in our lives; idols can be contentment, idols can be perceptions, idols can be people, idols can be money, and the list can go on and on. Often times we think of sin as lying and cheating and blatant defiance of God's word. We don't often think of sin being the way we long for our children to behave like angels in Target or for our husbands to take out the trash like Susan's does. It's easy to look at our sin when it's obvious; like feeling bitterness towards a coworker or stealing that Range Rover you've had your eye on since you were 16. I'm telling you though, ya'll, from experience that the sneaky sins are exactly how they are described. 

God is growing me in hard heart times right now and it's really hard sometimes to see the light breaking through the cracks. It's hard not to just hid my eyes from the truth that is breaking in before me, calling me to repentance and to growth; calling something deeper and more pure to root in my heart instead of the idols and the sin that seems to fester just below the surface. 

Man, is this hard as most lessons tend to be. It's hard right now and sometimes there are tears shed but I can see those glimmers of light coming in and I long for the joy that will eventually come when it breaks through entirely.