Idolatry Behind Our Sins

“Idolatry is always the reason we ever do anything wrong. Why do we ever lie, or fail to love or keep promises or live unselfishly? Of course, the general answer is because we are weak and sinful, but the specific answer is always that there is something besides Jesus Christ that you feel you must have to be happy, something that is more important to your heart than God, something that is spinning out a delusional field and enslaving the heart through inordinate desires. So the secret to change is always to identify the idols of the heart.”

“Our problem is that we have given ourselves over to idols. Every idol-system is a way of our-works-salvation, and thus it keeps us ‘under the law.’ Paul tells us that the bondage of sin is broken when we come out from under the law -- when we begin to believe the gospel of Christ’s-work-salvation. Only when we realize in a new way that we are righteous in Christ will the idol’s power over us be broken.”

Tim Keller