A Different Kind of Idol

In Life Group on Sunday, we had a good discussion. Someone brought up the question of where the line was between worrying and being a responsible steward. We're commanded about both:

²⁵"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life^b]">[b]? ²⁸"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25-34

and

¹⁰"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹²And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? Luke 16:10-12

Of course, there are other verses as well.

But as I was doing my study this morning, I found myself wondering how that relates to idolatry. I think most people have figured out by now that idols aren't always made of wood or stone. I know that things like money, security, fashion, television, cultural trends, even family and friends can be idols.

What about worry though? Can that be an idol? I think maybe it can be.

Isn't worrying a symptom of not trusting God? If we trust Him to take care of our needs, all of them, then there really shouldn't be a cause to worry. We can worry about someone who hasn't been saved but doesn't God love them more than we could ever hope to understand. I'm not saying we shouldn't be responsible of course or have love and concern enough to want that person to know God.

But is that really the same as worry? To me, worry is a consuming concern... one that you refuse to turn over to God and give up control of (even if you might have to turn it over to Him multiple times). Isn't that essentially an idol? Something that stands in the way of you and God? Something that you refuse to sacrifice or turn over to God?

Thinking of it in those terms makes me want to never, ever worry about anything again.