Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

1 John 5:21 (NIV)

Idolatry is actually a form of self-worship.

In the context of 1 John, we are exhorted to be true to the gospel and not to be distracted by anything that robs our focus in worshipping God and showing His love to others. When we worship or give worth to anything other than God we will compromise our faith and end up with a powerless version of the gospel.

An obsession with unhealthy and unrealistic ideals to the neglect of our spiritual health and well-being is idolatry. Idolatry feeds our craving for comfort, luxury and happiness to the point where we will deftly repackage the gospel to our liking. Instead of conforming ourselves to God's image, we end up creating God in our own image. An idiosyncratic and syncretistic faith pulls us away from a biblical worldview where God is exalted, and we are humbled.

In the Book of Revelation, Jesus warns the seven churches against following insipid and lukewarm teachings that encourage fleshy behaviour. I believe this is a lesson we still need to learn today. Much of our present-day church reflects the idolatry of consumerism. When evangelism is reduced to a marketing strategy, people join the church simply because of what it has to offer them. When that happens, churches become consumerist enterprises competing for a larger share of churchgoers instead of making disciples.

We are not called to be consumers of churches. Instead, we are called to be followers of Jesus. Our life in Christ is incomparably richer and far more glorious than we can ever imagine. By pursuing Him, we will forge a culture of church life that will not compromise with the idolatry of consumerism, but rather reveal the gospel in all of its fullness and beauty.