Who is on your pedestal?

There was a season in which  I had a person in my life, that I loved too much. You may wonder how this could be possible, but let me assure you it is.

I learned after much heartache that there is a difference between having a love for someone, and idolizing them. I would wake up in a sheer panic in the night worried this person was going to die and leave my life. I was fearful of losing them and grew worried day by day that something was going to happen. This was not a healthy love.

To have a person on a pedestal means to hold them in a position of high regard or adoration. And while we can hold people with high regard and adoration, I had to ask myself if God was in the HIGHEST position.

It was during a time that I was away at a women’s retreat and felt that panic rise up again. I was sure my loved one would die while I was away, stripping me of a chance to say goodbye. Let me bring up the fact that this person was not even sick. This was an irrational fear. All of a sudden I had to ask myself, ” who is on the most high pedestal in my life?”

I was making this person out to be far more important in my life than anyone should be.  It is not healthy to hold onto someone or something so tight that even the thought of losing them brings about a panic. The Lord knows our days, or hours, our needs and our concerns.

I  am to put my trust in the Lord and my focus on Him. Keeping my eyes on the Lord is how I grow with Him. Focusing my heart and attention in unhealthy ways, limits God’s ability to take care of all things.

Now the most blatant person on my pedestal was easy to spot, because it was an issue for some time and the Lord healed me of that irrational fear and putting someone before Him. However, over the years,  I have had to keep my eyes open and a heart aware to other people and things I may put on a pedestal above God.

There was a time I had to remove my husbands job from the pedestal, or my possessions, or my husband and children, hobbies or even my ministry. Anything that distracts me from trusting and leaning on the Lord, placing Him first in my life, is taking the place the Lord belongs.

Challenge this day my friend: Take inventory on your heart and identify people or any ‘thing’ that may be taking place on a higher pedestal than God. If you are in an unhealthy place, turn these things over to the Lord. Trust in Him first. Always keep your heart and eyes open so that if someone or something begins to take the position of  the Lord in your life, you are quick to correct the positioning. Make sure God is the most high.

Psalm 82:6-

‘ I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’

(NIV)