How’s your heart? Not a question you typically hear someone ask a healthy person. It’s an inquiry reserved for a patient on the mend, someone recovering from by-pass surgery, or perhaps an angioplasty. However, while reading Gods at War this week, Kyle Idleman was suggesting that perhaps I needed to consider the health of my heart. Someone, who as far as I am aware, has no reason to take an x-ray of her blood vessels, as they appear to be working just fine. But the suggestion was made that perhaps I needed a Spiritual Arteriogram.

In his efforts to help us comprehend that Idol Worship is still very much an issue in our society today, Idleman shares of a conversation with a cardiologist where a patient sought medical attention to treat symptoms that did not appear to be a heart condition; however, the test results indicated that indeed there was a cardiovascular issue that required attention. We often do not see the true issue that needs to be addressed in our lives. Idlemann shares, “It’s difficult to see ourselves as idol worshipers. Whatever our symptoms might be, we struggle to connect them to the throne of the heart and what occupies it. But that is where the battle is being fought.” So, Idleman suggests we conduct a Spiritual Arteriogram, using questions as the dye that helps to “reveal and locate some problem areas.”

To say that I wasn’t planning for a procedure yesterday is an understatement, and yet, as I reflected on his questions, I began to see that a process intended to promote my growth as a faculty member often leaves me with a heart problem. For everyone else, it doesn’t seem to be an issue, but the process leaves my heart in an unhealthy place, rather than experiencing an Improve Mindset like it should, I’m left engaging in a Prove It! frame of mind. Now, some of this heart issue likely stems from specific aspects of my personality such as having an underlying fear of being useless, helpless, or incapable. But if I conduct a Spiritual Arteriogram, I might just discover that there is an unidentified idol lurking, waiting to take the place of God in my life.

So, if I sift through Idlemann’s seven questions in light of times when I am experiencing a prove mindset, what might they reveal? (1) What disappoints you? (2) What do you complain about the most? (3) Where do you make financial sacrifices? (4) What worries you? (5) Where is your sanctuary? (6) What infuriates you? (7) What are your dreams? These require a Probing Conversation with myself that perhaps I’d rather not have, but if I’m the only one at work experiencing this struggle during this process, perhaps there are deeper issues that need some treatment.

What is uncovered during this Spiritual Arteriogram is that this process at work reveals that I’m idolizing my career. Without the responsibilities at home that many people have, my place of employment holds a greater weight in measuring my worth as a person. My calling, earning a promotion, being respected as a diligent employee, speaking into the life of students becomes an idol that replaces God (at least during the promotional process). In my need for affirmation that I’m living out my calling and fulfilling my God-Given Space, I begin to look for validation outside of God Himself. And the fact that we live in a culture that very much values achievement, I’m uncertain of how to navigate a proper balance between living my life for God, and not over-focusing on the steps needed to demonstrate a successful career.

It’s Idleman’s challenge to conduct a Spiritual Arteriogram that has me rethinking my perspective of Idol Worship. He confronts me with a new reality, “We replace God with statues of our own creation…a house…a promotion…acceptance…championship…Anything at all can become an idol once it becomes a substitute for God in our lives.” My desire is that when this process rolls around again in a few months that this arteriogram will have led to successful treatment, but only time will tell. However, I do plan to be intentional about not idolizing my career so that whether or not I receive the affirmation I need from colleagues, I will stand firm with God in first place in my life.

Have you ever been challenged to engage in a Spiritual Arteriogram? If it’s not too personal, would you consider sharing your experience in the comments below so that we may learn from your story?

Reference:

Idleman, K. (2013). Gods at war: Defeating the idols that battle for your heart. Zondervan.