Exposition:

Most fetish priests and occults who accepted the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ usually offered their idols to be burnt. When that happened, it shows complete submission to the Holy Ghost and the individual’s readiness to worship the Almighty God. Contrarily, spiritual idol worshipping mostly emanates from the heart and it’s quite difficult for that person to come to terms with their condition and subsequent isolation from God. For this reason, Paul advises believers to “put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within (us) you”. The incessant craving for worldly desires makes one create idols in their heart. Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed are worldly snares that can ruin a person’s religious life.

In 1 John 2:15-17, believers are made aware of the lusts that easily lure them into damnation as the following:

Lust of the flesh- this includes but not limited to impurity, anger, malice, slander, filthy language, lies, hatred and sexual innuendos. The pornographic institution keeps thriving because many people sponsor them by patronizing their products through social media handles. Unconsciously, some believers are caught in this web of sponsorship just because they watch such videos to arouse their sexual drive and if not curbed, it becomes idolatry.

The second is the lust of the eyes which includes immorality and lust for worldly ideas and things. Anytime we become obsessed about events or programmes more than what we usually attached to the service of God, we must know that we are serving those things.

The last is the pride of life which includes greed, covetousness, and the like. Sometimes, secret sins are idols that we nurse in our hearts which can jeopardize our growth in Christ. Keeping idols in our heart makes us despondent, belligerent and haughty. We aren’t able to communicate with God. Even when we pray, He sees our prayers as mere noise-making (Amos 5:21-23)

Since heaven is not reserved for idolaters and sinners, it’s expedient that we circumcise our hearts and confess our sins if we know we have loved the world more than we should have loved God. Again, we must be filled with the Holy Ghost, know the will of God for our lives and to build a hedge around us. We must flee from things that take much of our time. We must find time to communicate with our Lord on consistent daily bases. By so doing, we’ll be able to delete idols from our hearts and to grow spiritually.