The Idolatry of Preference

What is your idolatry of preference? If you are not sure, perhaps a definition of the term will help. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, idolatry is defined as follows: 1.” the worship of a physical object as a god,” and 2. “immoderate attachment or devotion to something.”

The first definition might seem laughable in this day and age, but the second definition should hit home with most of us. While the worship of expensive items, or money itself, might seem downright pagan, an “immoderate attachment” to wealth would almost be deemed normal in modern culture. Maybe the word “devotion” would more aptly serve in describing what sometimes takes first place in our lives. A good measurement of any attachments we might have would be to honestly assess how much time we devote to a person, place, or thing on a regular basis.

Worshipping the Golden Calf

When I was the ripe old age of five, I saw Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments for the first time. It was stunning to see the parting of the Red Sea, but there was a scene that left a more lasting impression on me. While Moses was on the mountain, the Israelites were worshipping a golden calf by dancing around it and making music. It was clear to me, even at a young age, that the time that they were giving to an inanimate object while Moses was encountering the living God was downright farcical.

Later in life, I reached the understanding that it was because the idol was the result of “the work of their hands” that it received so much attention. In essence, they preferred to turn to an idol of their own making while turning away from the theophany taking place just above them.

Setting Our Desires Above God

From the beginning of humankind, God’s gift of free will, combined with a temporarily disordered desire, was expressed in the Garden of Eden. Eve believed a lie that caused her to place her preference of the moment above God’s eternal will, with Adam quickly following suit. The rest, as they say, is history. The balance of this article will address how our preferences (self-will) can become objects of idolatry in and of themselves. Whether consciously or not, preferring to place anyone or anything above God results in idolatry. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:

Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Many martyrs died for not adoring “the Beast” refusing even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God. (CCC 2113)

Finding Idolatry in the Present

While most would readily see the evil of satanism and demons, they might be less inclined to shy away from the allure of power, pleasure, and money. If you just bracket the pursuit of money and pleasure as possible temptations to faith, you will find something common to just about everyone. The following excerpt from the Gospel of Matthew warns against placing our preference for “mammon” above God:

No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. … Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. (Matthew 6:24, 27-33)

Let us pray for the grace to place our preferences, however enticing, at the foot of the cross while seeking first the Kingdom of God in our lives.