Burning our sons and daughters in the fire

29When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, 30take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.' 31You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
Deuteronomy 12:29-31

I have pondered this verse many times over the past few months, particularly in relationship to biblical counseling. I don't have any profound insight or mysterious exegesis of it, but I think it bears such a practical and tangible picture for the believer, as it exposes clearly how far we will go to hold onto what is most valuable to us. It is becoming more common in many evangelical circles to speak about idols, and trying to identify what it is that we worship. Elyse Fitzpatrick has even written a book entitled, Idols of the Heart, which I have found to be extremely insightful in learning to understand my heart and what it is lusting after or desiring more than Christ. But even long ago, before this resurgence of idol conversation, the Puritans often wrote on the topic. Jonathan Edwards, John Flavel, John Calvin (all the great "John" theologians!) - all spoke frequently about the tendency of man to place his own wants before his loyalty to the Father.

So back to the verse that started this post - what is the point? It shows the absolutely insane fervency with which man pursues his idols. He is so obsessed with these self-motivated and self-absorbed pursuits that he is willing to sacrifice his own sons and daughters in the fire to display his loyalty to the idol. You say, "Ridiculous! I would never burn my children on an altar for the sake of a false idol!" But wait. Consider how we do this very thing quite often. We allow others to provide the majority of the primary care for our children so that we can make more money to live in our perfectly decorated "dream home" where we all have plenty of space to spread out and make sure we have at least two nice vehicles as well as being able to afford some fun entertainment on the weekends. No physical children of your own? We are not off the hook either. Ponder how often we avoid spending time with spiritual children because it inconveniently interferes with our personal time. We would rather have that time to "rest" because we already work hard all week and we "deserve" to relax, right? We refuse to intentionally seek out opportunities to disciple or mentor a younger believer because we think this time of singleness is our time to enjoy life in ways that we will be restricted from if we ever marry. Singleness, biblically speaking, means a time of singular devotion to the ministry God has granted us, not a time of singular devotion to self. We are all placing these children, whether our own offspring or a spiritual daughter or son, on the burning altar of our own idols! We desire our own satisfaction and pleasure and comfort more than their eternal welfare.

Tend to your heart. Search out its idols and put them to destruction. John Flavel writes, "God, our Creator, has formed man with not only a physical body, but within that magnificent body is an inner realm even more significant, glorious and powerful than the body which contains it. This stately palace, the soul of man, was designed for habitation by God and not for any other." What rules me? Is it Christ who habitates my heart above all other longings? Who or what am I sacrificing in the fire for the sake of my own ease?