What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give…
An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I ‘ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” There are many ways to describe that kind of relationship to something, but perhaps the best one is worship.
(pages xvii and xviii of Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters)
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[…] According to Tim Keller, an idol is anything “more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.” Books, like any other good gift from God, can become an idol if we’re not careful. The resolution to love God and others is so much more important than reading–which is why I resolve to put books down if I feel like they are absorbing my heart and mind more than my first duty as a Christian. […]