THE MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION
by Anita Kelly Couch

“We are God’s obsession, and He wants to be ours. The more we direct our attention to Him and the more we satisfy our hunger with Him, the more obsessed with His goodness and majesty we become. And we find that as we focus on Him, He changes our desires and priorities. What we once obsessed about seems insignificant in the light of His nature and truth, and He becomes our magnificent obsession!”
                                       Beauty by the Book, by Nancy Stafford

He did everything possible to guarantee that we would become His. For this reason, He jealously gives us His first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3) We are to be obsessed with Him and Him alone! Jesus said it this way: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22: 37-38)

Yet, just like the children of Israel, our hearts turn away and starve for that which can never satisfy. We become guilty of idolatry. What does your heart crave? What is the most important thing in your life? What is it that you feel you must have, in order to be happy? What is it that you spend most of your time thinking about? You must answer this question honestly.

Whatever commands our daily devotion and shapes our daily routine and guides the way we interact with life have become our idols. Idols are not necessarily images to which we bow down. We worship that which we value most.   John Calvin said,

             “Our hearts are ‘idol factories’, and our words and actions are shaped by the pursuit of things our heart craves.”

The Bible calls these, in the book of  Isaiah, “idols of the heart.”

Paul David Tripp, in his incredible book, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, accurately describes how a simple desire can be elevated in our hearts to the position of an idol. The following explanation is an excerpt from his book.

*Idolatry starts with a desire.
These desires do not have to be evil. They may be “good” desires, like a healthy body or lifestyle, obedient children, orderly home, a loving marriage, etc. The problem is our desires can become so strong that they begin to control our hearts.

*Desires can lead to demand.
I have decided that I must have what I have set my heart on. I will not be happy until I do! I can no longer conceive of my life without this thing. Now I place this silent demand on those around me: You must help me get what I want!

 *Demand quickly moves to need.
I now view this thing as essential to life.  If I do not get it, I will be angry.

*Need inevitably becomes expectation.
“If I am convinced I need something and you have said you love me, it seems right to expect that you will help me get it.” This dynamic becomes the source of many conflicts in our personal relationships. “I will find it painful to live without the thing I desire. I will think it is appropriate to do everything in my power to get it. It becomes my right. This is an “I love you and have a wonderful plan for your life” view of relationships. My plan for our relationship is that it would meet my needs.”

 *Expectation very quickly leads to disappointment.
“You do not know that I have christened these desires as needs, and you do not meet my expectations.”  Now I am disappointed in you, not because you have necessarily wronged me. You have just failed to meet my expectations.

*Disappointment leads to some form of punishment.
“Because you didn’t I will..” ”We become angry and bitter, because people who say they love us seem insensitive to our needs. We punish those around us for failing to help us or for not giving us what we want. This is idolatry in its’ rawest form.

Have you identified any desires that have taken preeminence in your heart? What are they?

For some, their desire for a healthy body led them down the path of an eating disorder. Read this sober excerpt from Nancy Stafford’s excellent book entitled, Beauty By the Book,

“Remember: Christ bought your identity.  He has freed you from the tyranny of other people’s expectations and unshackled you from the bonds of comparisons.  Your identity isn’t determined by Vogue Magazine, Victoria’s Secret, or Calvin Klein, and you don’t have to try to meet the unreasonable, unattainable standards of the culture. You are unique in every way. So resist the idea of living someone else’s idea of what you should look like.”

The truth is that when we do that, our real obsession is our preoccupation with ourselves. When we strive to be skinny, we ourselves dominate our thoughts.  In our distraction, we often don’t lavish time and attention on loved ones, the people around us, or God.  We fixate on and spend our passions on ourselves. And even if we despise them, our bodies become the focus of our attention, idols we worship—our own golden calves.  But God says that He will not share His glory with idols. “On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more.” (Zechariah 13:2)

Meditate on this excerpt. If you are going to walk in freedom, you must learn to be totally honest. Have you ever considered that your preoccupation with your body image is a form of idolatry?

Has your body been your “golden calf”, not necessarily because you ‘love’ the way it looks, but because of all the time and concentration you devote to it. Does it qualify?

How does that make you feel?

The Apostle Paul describes it this way in Romans 1: 25, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator, who is forever praised.”

Have you exchanged the truth of what God declares is true of you as His child for a lie of the enemy or a lie of the culture? Have you, in a sense, bowed down and worshiped an image, something you feel you must obtain in order to be happy or content?

Are you guilty of doing what Romans 1: 25 describes? How?

Fall on your knees before God and tell Him that you only want to worship Him, for He alone is worthy of your worship! Confess your preoccupations with your body or other ungodly desires as sin. Agree with God that they are idolatry. Ask Him for grace that you would focus all of your desires on Him and by faith, turn from your idolatry and love Christ alone!

Will you turn from your idolatry and let Christ become your “magnificent obsession?”

**This article was based on the following books that brought much conviction yet greater freedom in my life, even to this day! You will find these resources most helpful.

*Idols of the Heart, by Elize Fitzpatrick, P & R Publishing, ©2001

*Beauty by the Book, by Nancy Stafford, Multonomah Publishing, ©2002

*War of Words, by Paul David Tripp, P & R Publishing, ©2000

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