Entry 3- Pocket Idols

A. W. Tozer once made the observation that “Grace will save a man but it will not save him and his idol”. I am sure that he meant to aim his arrow in an evangelical direction and point to the less than controvertible fact that the Lord saves lost people from their idols not with them. The converted sinner can not take his stone statues with him into the kingdom. When the true God calls, all false gods must be cast aside. But this truth can be applied to the Christian’s heart as well. We may not bow before images of chiseled stone or polished brass but let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that we are without our idols. The idols that most appeal to us are pocket idols; the kind that are outside the range of human eyesight but are there none the less to trip us up. One such idol is doctrine. You know the tags. We all use them. I am a Calvinist. You are an Arminian. We are Dispensationalists. They are Covenant theologians. He is this and she is that. Just add an “ian” or “ist” to virtually any word and you can form for yourself a new idol of dogma and doctrine that multitudes may be willing to follow. What am I really? If I answered that question fifteen years ago I probably would have identified myself as a Reformed Baptist with puritanical convictions and premillenial leanings. That is the idol I would have stuffed in my pocket. And if any disagreed with me I would have shown them, in a very pompous way, why they should leave their idol and come over to mine. I would never have admitted that I had an idol but that is why I carried it in my pocket. If it is out of sight it really doesn’t exist even if it is very much in my mind. You see I found, much to my displeasure, that I was so preoccupied with Calvin that I had almost forgotten my Christ. That is what happens when sound doctrine becomes a senseless idol. Doctrine is good when it causes us to think more of the Savior. It is bad and idolatrous when it causes us to dwell more on the teaching and less on the Person it is supposed to reflect. Now we must all concede that truth is indispensable. Teaching and doctrine both come from the same Greek root and underscore the fact that you cannot have true teaching without true doctrine. But doctrine by itself is sterile and lifeless. Dogma cannot pardon a lost soul. It is only the person of Christ that can save a wretch like me. What am I really? Well if answered today I hope, above and beyond all other things, I would say that I am a Christian. The doctrine is there. It just that I took it out of my pocket and put it where it belongs. What’s in your pocket?