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Worship

Root Idols of the Heart

Name what's quietly ruling you. Count what it's costing you. Hear a truer worship in its place.

Step 1 of 5 · Name it

Which root idol is loudest right now?

Pick one or two. These often travel in pairs — approval and control, comfort and power. Trust your gut.

0 of 1–2 selected
Step 2 of 5 · See it

How do you know it's ruling you?

For each idol you named, write the proof — specific moments, words you've said, and the things you felt you had to have because of it. This is where you make the invisible visible.

Step 3 of 5 · The ledger

The Cost Ledger

Idols stay on the throne by hiding their bill. Write what the idol paid you — and what it cost you. Then ask the only question that matters.

Left column What the idol paid me Praise. A win. A sense of control. Relief.
Right column What the idol cost me Patience. Presence. The person I want to be.
The only question that matters

Am I willing to keep paying this?

Step 4 of 5 · Break the grip

Pre-Decisions

A pre-decision is a fence built in calm time, before the idol gets to vote in the moment. Pick one or two that fit your life.

Tailoring pre-decisions to what you wrote…

Step 5 of 5 · The workroom

The Workroom

"The deepest issues of human struggle are not issues of pain and suffering, but the issue of worship — because what rules our hearts will control the way we respond to both suffering and blessing."

— Paul David Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands

"Suffering is one of God's most useful workrooms. It can help us move out of the confines of our self-absorbed world into the grandeur of a world where God is central."

— Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands

What you've named is not a problem to fix. It is the workroom — the place God is using to expose what you've been worshiping, so that He can hand you something better.

Reading what you wrote with care…