Heart Matters: Overcoming Idolatry Returning to GodAir Date: Jun. 10, 2025

Beth Barlet (00:03)
Are you living your life wholeheartedly devoted to God? Today, I dive into what it means to place something above our relationship with Jesus and how we can be free from the chains of misplaced devotion that hinders our walk with God. Let’s get to it. Salty begins right now.

Beth Barlet (00:42)
Welcome to Salted, where I help you uncover the transformative power to know and love Jesus in His fullness and stir up revival within your heart. Join me, Beth Barlett, as I come alongside you every week on the narrow path that draws us into a deeper relationship with Jesus. Get ready to be encouraged, empowered, ignited and equipped as we pursue authentic discipleship to influence the world for the Kingdom of God.

Beth Barlet (01:11)
Hey everyone, welcome to the newest and latest episode of the Salted Podcast. Today we are really going to focus on the matter of the heart and how we as Christians and followers of Jesus can overcome idolatry and the attachment to things of this world in order to deepen our intimacy with the Lord.

You know, after starting this podcast, I’ve been really wanting to dive into this episode about worship. In addition to our faith, I really think that it’s one of the core foundations of our walk with the Lord and really the epitome of Christianity. And we as humans all have an inherent desire to worship. We were created by God to worship. And as Christians, worship is a posture of the heart of love and gratitude for who God is.

and what He has done for us through His Son Jesus Christ on the cross. However, the problem occurs when we choose the wrong object to which we bow down to and we replace wholeheartedly worshipping God with things of this world, thus stealing our full affection from Jesus. The things we worship other than our Creator can also control us and tend to distract us from the time, focus, and resources that are to be used to serve God.

You know, I love the quote I once heard that we as humans love to worship, but we tend to worship bad gods. In today’s episode, I want to talk about what it means to misplace our worship and how we must guard our hearts from idols by first defining truly what an idol is and how we can overcome our hearts tendency to stray through the power of remembrance.

For us Christians, worship is not just simply singing songs on Sundays, but the Bible tells us that it is decision about how we are to live our lives and posture our hearts before God each and every day. The greatest of God’s commands is actually to love our God with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. It is loving Jesus so much that we love him above even our own selves with a heart that is willing to submit to his lordship, surrender to his sovereign will,

and obey his commands.

But like any kingdom on earth, the kingdom of heaven commands us to have full allegiance to its king. And we must remember that he is not just any king, but King Jesus, the Lord of lords and King of kings, who is seated at the right hand of God, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. To him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him.

And his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall never be destroyed. He is the King of the universe with all the authority and power and his rule is one of righteousness, justice, humility, kindness and love. He is the maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. And he remains faithful to us forever. All things were made through him and by him and all things are held together through him.

and in His glorious reign He desires all of our devoted loyalty or allegiance and there can be no room for idols that try to steal His praise. Jesus is worthy of our entire lives, affections and the things in our lives we hold most dear. Proverbs tells us that it is from the heart in which all things flow and we can see from biblical accounts such as Cain and Abel that no matter the religious expression or sacrifices, the acts of worship most pleasing and accepting to God are that of the heart.

And God calls us to love what he loves and hate what he hates to give our lives wholeheartedly to him and worship through Spirit and Truth. If we look at the church today, we can see a lot of the truth being perverted and the gospel diluted. Nominal Christianity, lukewarm Christianity is rampant and I believe that it all stems from the heart. God’s people are worshipping God with their lips but not with their hearts. And because of their misaligned worship, there is a spirit of disobedience and rebellion, immorality and

promiscuity instead of one of purity, holiness and righteousness in the body of Christ. Not only does everything flow from the heart, but it’s imperative that the Bible tells us that we are to guard our hearts. Because as Jesus tells us, everything good flows from a good heart and bad from an evil one. And Satan is roaming around like a lion, always trying to steal our affections away from Christ through temptations of this world. And from the time of the Garden of Eden, we know that the human hearts are evil.

but that God gave us a new heart, one of stone to one of flesh, giving us power through the Holy Spirit within us to live a life pleasing to God. And I believe that today that God is calling his remnant church back to him, back to him as his first love, to love him once again with all of our hearts, soul and mind, with eyes solely for him, completely disconnected and loose from affections of this world. Truly believing that a friend of the world is an enemy of God. Alright.

But now, what exactly is an idol? It is anyone or anything that we are excessively devoted to in our hearts that takes our affection and tries to steal our focus, adoration, or allegiance to our heavenly king. It are things we place our security and faith in apart from God. And our God is a jealous God, and throughout scripture, particularly in the Old Testament, idolatry has been equated to the sin of adultery. That idolatry is like being an unfaithful wife.

who has an illicit love affair with the world and breaks her marriage vow to God.

Idolatry or cheating our God with our hearts grieves him so much and we are commanded by God’s law to worship God alone and to not bow down to any other gods before him.

It is more often than not that when we think of idol worship, we tend to think of things we can see, touch, or do on this earth. However, it are the idols that we keep hidden in the deepest places of our hearts that inadvertently become strongholds in our mind that we must allow the Holy Spirit to uncover and fillet. Satan is constantly tempting us with things of this world as an invitation to love things more than Christ. The world is full of idols the enemy tries to use and steal affection away from our love for Jesus.

temporary false fleeting pleasures that only leave us endlessly dissatisfied. And we as Christians idolize titles, worldly success, money, designer items such as bags, cars, and clothing to give us a false sense of worth, pride, acceptance as we inadvertently start to misplace our identity. We substitute superficial relationships, social media, sexual relationships outside of marriage, etc. to fill holes of loneliness, rejection, and the need to be wanted, accepted, and loved.

We frequently bow down to the approval and validation of man over what is pleasing, honorable, and acceptable to God. And we seek our own glory from desires of selfish ambition and self-promotion instead of posturing our hearts as unworthy bondslaves and servants of Christ. Many, even the church, have created a God in their own image, one that suits their lifestyle choices, a God who is formed out of their own truth conformed to their lower standard of morality.

And many times it is the unseen idol of selfish pride, comfort, success, self-preservation, religiosity, vanity, self-righteousness, and or the fear and approval of man that keeps us from fully walking in and pursuing the will of God.

It is sobering that anything on this earth can potentially become an idol. Even the best of God’s blessings, the people we love the most in our lives, and even our ministries. The enemy can and will suddenly use anything to turn our eyes away from Jesus and lead us astray. And many times we don’t have money, sex, drugs, alcohol problems, but because we all have Lordship problems that we walk astray.

In the parable of the sower, Jesus warns us that idols and pleasures of this world choke our growth with God, hindering our fruitfulness for His kingdom and impeding our spiritual maturity. Our focus on idols and the suffocating distractions of this world take away the focus, time, energy, and hunger that’s needed for God’s Word to be intentionally cultivated, watered, and grown in our hearts. It is up to us to intentionally remove the thorns that try and take root in the soil of our hearts

by renouncing any double-mindedness that deceitfully tempts us in believing that we can serve two masters, both God and this world. It is so important that we must boldly examine the affections of our heart asking ourselves the questions, are we loving God with all of our heart, souls and minds? Or are we putting people and relationships and things of this world before our relationship with God? Do we have an insatiable hunger and thirst for the Lord?

Or have we filled our bellies with empty fillers that steal our appetites from more of His presence and more? Are we investing our time, money, and energy in temporary things of this world or things that hold eternal value in heaven?

Let me tell you sister a little bit about what God has done in my life.

and how he’s eluded me from so many attachments of this world. You know, it’s inevitable in this worldly life that we at some time or another will struggle with an idol that tries to take or steal our affections from God. For some, it can be the obvious things such as sports, other icons or movie stars, money or cars, but sometimes it can be even the gifts God has given us in this life as I previously discussed. Or the celeb Christian influencer that you may take his words over God’s.

And there may be a number of reasons we begin to worship in our hearts a seen or unseen idol, and many times Satan tries to play at our wounds, hurts, emotions to place our affection in the things that can steal our dependency and allegiance to God. For me, over the last 10 years, the Lord has gently stripped me and torn down many idols in my life that I held so tightly to before I found Jesus. And throughout my life, there have been so many idols that have had to be constantly thrown down.

I can trace back the idol of success and materialism back to my time in college. I went to a university culture where the amount of money you made, the clothes you wore, the designer bag you carried, and car you drove determined your acceptance and popularity, and for that matter, what seemed to give you your worth and value. And I remember growing up in a middle income family, and so because of this, I remember feeling inadequate. Although I was blessed with a beautiful, great childhood and everything I could ever need,

These idols were not in my home and the importance placed on these things were foreign to me. But naturally, being a 19 year old girl, I wanted to be light accepted and my heart strived to keep up with the elite of society simply by obtaining the superficial symbols that I could acquire that could for now fool those around me that I too was worthy.

I remember my life being so falsely dependent upon idols, but the idol of success fed other smaller idols of greed, materialism, and the approval of man. I had to have the best car, the most expensive jewelry, the name brand bag, and designer clothes. I had to have the most money.

the best career and following, the biggest house and make sure that everyone knew that I made it in life and was approved by people I barely knew. It was so exhausting and became an obsession deep within my heart that held me captive and fed selfishness, self-centeredness, pride, insecurity, fear of rejection and all the stuff that was hidden by the enemy which he used to keep me in chains deep within my heart.

Designer bags, luxury car, and designer clothes were now what gave me worth, value, and acceptance and sadly defined me. Unaware and blinded, without knowing Jesus, it became subconsciously always about what I did, what I accomplished, what I looked like, how much money I made, all about me, me, me, me, and how the world saw and judged and approved of me. However,

After discovering the love of Jesus that surpassed any love I ever desired and the grace of God transformed my heart, these things no longer had a hold on me.

I remember in obedience as the Lord transformed my heart and life that He asked me if I would start to give up all the things I previously clung to. And slowly in joyful obedience, I traded in the luxury cars, I sold our dream house, and after 15 years and a successful medical career, I walked away from it in obedience simply to raise my children fully for Him at home. However, even in my changed heart and desires, the Lord revealed to me

the power of these idols actually still try to have a hold on me how many years later. Let me explain further.

As I sought more and more to please and surrender my heart more fully to God’s leading, one of the things He asked of me was to give away thousands of dollars of my designer bags. I knew this was something I felt I needed to do in the seasons of my life and growth in the Lord, revealing my allegiance to God alone and to show that I was free from these old idols. And I joyfully in obedience immediately started the process of selling my collection or giving my bags away, until I got to my very last one.

and then something had awakened in my heart. For some reason, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t part with it. And I remember breaking down, crying to the Lord, asking him why. And he revealed to me the deepest old fears that still hadn’t fully left my heart. My allegiance still wasn’t fully to him. And for the first time, I realized the power of these silly items held over my heart and my life. In a weird way, they had become my false sense of security that I would take with me wherever I would go.

It’s silly, but it symbolized I was worthy, and that in my mind it was a shield from being rejected, while at the same time fed my ego and pride, declaring to the world, look at me again, for your info I achieved the success of the world, demanded of me, and that I made it. And instead of walking in the blessed assurance and security of who I am in Jesus as a daughter, as a chosen one of the Most High God and his gospel, this man-made item gave me this false sense of acceptance, accomplishment,

that I thought I longed for. And it was as if I was about to fall off a deep waterfall, and instead of clinging to the rope that would pull me out and save my life, I still foolishly clung to the life jacket that wouldn’t protect me and would ultimately lead to my demise. And I had a fear knowing that when I would give this last bag away, knowing the power of the spirit working in me, that I more than likely would never spend the money out of principle to buy another one again.

Getting rid of this very bag I knew would symbolically be a ticket to my full freedom,

For the first 30 years of my existence on earth in which I did not know the Lord, I lived my life blinded by darkness and enslaved to sin, striving incessantly for a contentment for the temporary things on earth which deceptively promised to satisfy. I built up my own kingdom on a foundation of worldly mindsets, self-absorption, and sinful patterns.

However, after being undone by the mercy, grace, and love of Jesus and His loving kindness for me, He began the process to tear down the kingdom I had built in myself by gently stripping away the warly mindsets and idols I clung to for security for so long so that He could rebuild upon a firm foundation His kingdom in and through me.

Maybe as I’m telling this testimony you are resonating with what I’m saying or you’re laughing at me thinking about how ridiculous I sound, but I’m so thankful for the leading discernment conviction given to me by the Holy Spirit to sanctify me in the areas I struggled in order to make me more like Jesus. Now your idol may not be a Louis Vuitton bag. It may be your work life, your comfort, your reputation, your ministry, the desire for significance, popularity in this life.

But I can guarantee if you would just ask the Lord to reveal yours to you, you’d be that much closer to being set free.

And I think that like I said that Satan uses so much of our insecurities, our wounds, things from our past and uses our weaknesses in order to lead us into sin. And sometimes we must be aware that deep within our hearts we have been given an intimate desire from God to be inherently loved, wanted and accepted by him and him alone. However, when we for whatever reason do not know the unconditional love of God, renounce it and reject it,

or ultimately over time have forgotten his love for us, our hearts seek out the next best thing in which we find ourselves surrounded, and we easily fall into the enemy’s ploy to stray our affection from God toward temporary and satiable things and all the wrong places.

Especially when we have been hurt or rejected in the past We like a fish out of water begin to find ourselves searching for fulfillment of this deep desire in the places the world Deceptively tempts us in believing that it will both heal and satisfy apart from Jesus

It is only when we ultimately receive and know God’s unconditional, far-reaching, eternal love for us, desire for us, and complete acceptance of us through Christ Jesus that we are filled with the joy, contentment, peace, and satisfaction in which we long for.

Well, the Lord reminded me in order to have victory in this battle, that I needed to remember his word and truth and that he constantly only wants the best for my life. Constantly preparing me to be his victorious advocate, ambassador and vessel like gold prepared for his purpose and glory.

Jesus is worth immeasurably more than anything that I could be afraid of losing, and by choosing these worthless idols, I was forfeiting the amazing grace of freedom and abundance of life fully available to me. He had me lay down these things in my life because he wanted me to have the best life as God knew that they were a snare for me. And we all walk through decisions and choices that will indefinitely mark our lives. The love forged over 10 years of pursuing intimacy and fellowship with Jesus

is what gave me the faith, courage, and blessed assurance to walk fully in line with God’s will. My love for Him compelled me to do nothing but what He asked no matter what it cost me. However, even now I must still be on guard to guard my heart from the same idols of success that tries to sneakily creep in but in a different way, through this ministry, and tries to undermine my walk and motives for the Lord. I constantly need to pray to kill within me a desire for success, significance, and comparison.

as I seek to not promote myself and ambitions, but 100 % to glorify and promote the Lord.

I must pray every day for the Lord to purify and guard my heart and give me clean hands and a pure heart to help me every day die more and more to myself in order to live that much more for God and lose myself from the affections of this life to behold more of the next, investing in things not temporary but eternal.

We as daughters of the Most High God must be willing to trust that Jesus is worth everything that the world tries to make us afraid of losing in order to behold more of Him, His presence, and His glory for all eternity. In the book of Jonah we learn that those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Jonah 2, 8. When we choose things and idols of this world over our life fully surrender to Jesus,

we willingly give up the grace of God available to us throughout all of heaven and the riches of his glorious inheritance for all of eternity. It is a sobering realization that when we choose anything over God, we forfeit the abundant blessing and favor that can only be found in deep levels of devotion, worship, and intimacy with our awesome Creator.

We exchange a life that takes hold of every spiritual blessing available to us in the heavenly realms through Christ Jesus for worthless, fleeting, temporary things of this world. We choose dirty, man-made cisterns instead of the fountain of never-ending life-giving water.

God shows us through his word that forgetfulness is a catalyst for idolatry and the root of faithlessness within our hearts. It is when we forget what God has done for us, who he is, his promises, his commandments, that we become complacent, neglectful, and let our guard down. And forgetting his goodness makes us more vulnerable to schemes of the enemy. Remembrance is what elicits gratitude in our hearts and ultimately leads us toward an increased level of trust and dependency

that helps deepen our love and grow our faith with God. The word remembrance is mentioned several times throughout the Old Testament to help God’s people.

In the book of Leviticus, God appointed weekly and yearly rhythms of remembrance for the people of Israel. For example, the Sabbath was a weekly rhythm to remember how God rested on the seventh day. The Passover was a yearly rhythm to remember how God delivered the Israelites from Egypt. In the book of Numbers, God commanded the people of Israel to wear blue tassels on their garments

to look upon and remember Him and His commands, keeping them from seeking things of the flesh, leading them away from idolatry, self-sufficiency, and sin so they would be a people wholly unto their God.

We too are called to remember the grace of God through not only His Old Testament miracles, but the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Like many in scripture, we are to build our own altars of remembrance daily like Joshua when they stacked twelve stones to remember when God parted that Jordan River.

Scripture tells us that we overcome by the power of the blood in our testimony and the remembrance and the testimony of God in our lives is what reminds us constantly of God’s unlimited power, unswerving faithfulness, abounding grace, perfect righteousness, and holiness that seeks to continually reposture our hearts in reverence, awe, wonder, and praise. It is also hiding God’s Word in our hearts that renews our minds and continues to build, strengthen, and forge our faith so we won’t sin against Him.

and as discussed in our previous episode, is the remembrance and faith in the eternal realities and truths in which we believe.

Additionally, the book of James tells us in order to fight idolatry that we are to be subject to God. James 4, 7, 8 says, so be subject to God. Resist the devil, stand firm against him and he will flee from you. Come close to God and he will come close to you. Recognize that you are sinners. Get your strolled hands clean. Realize that you have been disloyal, wavering individuals with divided interests and purify your hearts of your spiritual idolatry.

dear sisters,

Our hearts cry must cry out that we won’t be bought or sold out for anything in this universe but the precious blood of Jesus. It is more than ever dire that our soul focus, our soul hearts desire, and our soul hunger is for God. Our hearts must each and every day surrender afresh as God calls us to a deeper level of devotion and consecration as he takes us higher into his glory. What is the Lord asking you to lay down in order to behold more of him?

What are you holding on to, unwilling to let go of, that you willingly forfeiting all the grace that is available to you through the blood of Jesus Christ? This week I encourage you to make your own altar of remembrance and list all the things God has done for you and all the miraculous ways He has been faithful to you over the course of your life. I really feel as if I’m to pray over you today. Heavenly Father, help me to renounce and turn from any idols I have constructed in my heart in this life.

Show me the places in my heart where I have given over allegiance to anything apart from you. Forgive me for allowing my heart to stray and for loving some things at times more than loving you. Help me to remember all that you have done for me by sending your son to die for me on the cross and all the miracles you have done for me in my life. Grant me the desire and ability to die more and more to the idol of myself and its fleshy carnal desires each and every day.

Show me, Lord, where I have forfeited your blessings and grace for worthless things. Set me and my heart apart from the things of this world, so I might influence those around me for the kingdom of heaven. In Jesus’ name I pray.

Beth Barlet (25:20)
I pray this episode has blessed you today. I appreciate our time together and I hope our conversation has deepened your faith. Don’t forget to check out today’s show notes for episode links and additional information. Be sure to share this podcast with a friend, review it, and hit subscribe so you don’t miss one episode. Go to my website www.thesaltedpodcast.com and subscribe to my newsletter to be part of our Salted community. Remember,

Being salted takes intentionality. See you here next time.