Susie and author and Pastor Pete Wilson of Cross Point Church explore our heart’s true desire for significance, a topic from his new book, .

The world makes lots of empty promises–and we believe them. Often we look to the world for the things that only God can give us.  Even good things from God’s hand can become idols.

“Almost every single empty promise that’s out there, almost every single idol that exists in our culture today were actually propelled towards that by a God-given desire.”

The problem is that instead of turning to God to make us feel significant and feel loved we turn to the world. And those things only end up making us empty.

In that pursuit we can end up losing track of who God is and what he’s created us to do. We aren’t following his righteous path for us.

For us, the challenge is discerning when we are accepting the gifts God has given us and when, in contrast, we are turning those good things into idols. We have to search our hearts on a regular basis and ask God to reveal problematic areas.

Peter explained how in his own life, his ministry transitioned from being a good thing to something he was looking to for his worth. He started to idolize approval and look to the empty promises of the world which told him approval would make him happy.

He had to ask himself a question that we can ask ourselves too:

“Why do I continue to say yes to others even though I’m overextending and hurting those closest to me?”

He came to realize that downplaying the importance of his family and focusing exclusively on his goals and dreams was a sign of his idolatry.

Empty promises

Key Scriptures: Psalm 91:1Colossians 1:21-22Matthew 7:24-27