No Other Gods: Purging and Protecting Our Hearts from Idols, Part 2

By Robb Brunansky

Published March 4, 2025

One of the greatest Old Testament examples of a man who purged and protected himself and his kingdom from idols is King Josiah (2 Chronicles 34).

When Josiah realized that seeking the Lord was incompatible with the idolatry around him, he purged Judah and Jerusalem of idols with amazing zeal. Josiah’s men tore down Baal’s altars in his presence, and he personally traveled to destroy idols. Destroying idols not only requires us to take a stand, but it forces us to pursue things that will protect us from future attacks.

There are three things Christians must pursue if we would, like Josiah, purge and protect the kingdom of our hearts from idolatry.

First, we must pursue Christ-centered relationships.

People we choose to share our lives with have a dramatic impact on us. We see this effect throughout the scriptures. The Apostle Paul warned that spending time with wicked people will corrupt us. When we make friends with those who are not pursuing holiness and godliness, it will always shape our lives away from godly pursuits, as our standards and morals begin to change.

Christians may be tempted to think we are impervious to such influences. We sometimes believe that we are strong enough not to be influenced by others, that we can stand on our own, and that we have our own minds, thoughts, and opinions. Our enemy wants us to think that we will never be influenced by godless people, but that we can surely withstand such idolatrous influences. However, it is foolish to think that we can pursue relationships devoid of the truth of God’s Word, and that these relationships will not end up being to our spiritual detriment.

King Solomon is the clearest example in Scripture of the folly of surrounding ourselves with people who are not pursuing Christ as the greatest desire in their lives (1 Kings 11). Solomon, when he should have been wisest, played the fool because he pursued relationships with idolaters. His wives horrific influence led him to build high places for false gods, provoking God’s anger toward him. If the wisest man in the world could not avoid the destructive influence of idolatrous people, then neither can we. Allowing idolatrous people to have a seat of influence in our lives will certainly drag our hearts away from Christ.

That’s why Paul commanded Timothy to flee the idolatrous youthful lusts that can so easily tempt a man in ministry, and to instead pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace (2 Timothy 2:22). However, Timothy was not to pursue godliness alone, but with those who sincerely call on the Lord. Believers are to pursue relationships that will shape us into Christ’s image, not into the image of the world and the devil.

Second, we must pursue Christ-centered contentment.

When Paul talks about idolatry in his letters, he often focuses on one form of idolatry that is especially tempting: greed and covetousness. These vices both amount to idolatry because our hearts trust that having this thing or person in our lives will bring us more joy and satisfaction than having Christ. If idolatry is loving, trusting, or desiring something or someone more than or in place of Christ, we see why greed and covetousness are idolatrous because they are by definition loving something in place of and more than Christ.

We must pursue contentment because our sinful flesh is discontent. Our flesh is not happy in Christ; our flesh is happy with Christ plus a bigger house or a newer car or a faster computer or a nicer pair of shoes. So, we should seek Christ-centered contentment that comes because we have Christ – not because we have the latest thing, because the latest thing will never make us content.

Paul told us he had learned to be content in whatever circumstances he found himself – and he wrote these words from prison, not from a posh luxury resort. Paul could be content with a lot or a little; it was irrelevant to him.

Paul also learned to be content by pursuing contentment no matter what was going on in his life, and it must be the same with us. He pursued Christ-centered contentment when he had much, and he learned that Christ was enough in times of prosperity. He also pursued Christ-centered contentment when he had nothing, and he learned that Christ was enough even when he had nothing but Christ. The power of Christ was enough to make Paul content no matter his outward circumstances.

This contentment is the antithesis of idolatry because Paul learned to love, desire, and trust Christ and His power more than anything else in this world, so that Paul was always content.

Finally, we must pursue Christ-centered priorities.

We need to go beyond contentment to intentionally further God’s kingdom, placing our priorities on what is centered on Christ and not the world. It’s possible to genuinely say we are content with what we have, but then to focus on ourselves and what we have rather than on the kingdom. That way of thinking can be true in relation to our time, gifts, property, money, or whatever other resources God has entrusted to us.

No one put this principle more starkly than our Lord, when He said we cannot have serve two masters – God and money. Each will make demands upon us that exclude the other from being Lord, and so we must choose who or what we will serve. Will God be our God, with us loving, trusting, and desiring Him more than anything else? Or will money be our god, with us loving, trusting, and desiring money more than anything else?

There’s a principle here we would do well to pay attention to: our investments reflect our priorities. The more we invest in short-term earthly riches, the more our hearts will be chained to this world. However, the more we invest our time, money, talents, and resources in the kingdom of God, the more our hearts will be drawn toward heaven.

Six years after King Josiah began eradicating the idols out of Judah and Israel, something tremendous happened. He commissioned rebuilding the temple. Josiah understood that to bring the nation back to the true worship of Yahweh demanded His temple be repaired and rebuilt, so He might be worshiped as the Law demanded. Then, the high priest stumbled across the book of the Law.

When this Book was read to him, Josiah tore his clothes because he understood the Lord’s wrath was great against him and his kingdom because of their sin. He was then encouraged by the word of the Lord to rebuild the temple and continue to seek God. Josiah did just that, and then he found every remaining idol in the land and purged the nation of its idolatry – even breaking down the high places of Solomon that had stood for over 300 years.

Josiah’s action was the effect that hearing the Lord’s view of idolatry has on someone whose heart is fully devoted to Yahweh. Those who love God and whose hearts are completely His cannot abide any idols in their hearts – no matter how longstanding the idols might be or who built them. May all Christians follow the example of Josiah, being zealous to purge and protect our hearts from idols.

No Other Gods: The Sinister Nature of Idolatry, Part 1

No Other Gods: The Sinister Nature of Idolatry, Part 2

No Other Gods: The Devastating Destruction of Idolatry, Part 1

No Other Gods: The Devastating Destruction of Idolatry, Part 2

No Other Gods: Purging and Protecting Our Hearts from Idols, Part 1