When I discover I am worshiping an idol, how do I turn my heart back to God?

Genesis 35:4They gave Jacob all their pagan idols and earrings, and he buried them.

Anything can become an idol if we treat it as though it’s more important than God. For example, the Bible doesn’t say that wearing jewelry is wrong, nor does it say that enhancing the way we look is wrong. But we need to be careful not to let such things distract us to the point where we focus more on our external appearance than on the things of God. Sometimes we must get rid of things that might cause us to sin or keep God from being the center of our lives.

Joshua 24:23-24“All right then,” Joshua said, “destroy the idols among you, and turn your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God. We will obey him alone.”

The first step to turning our hearts to God is turning away from idols (anything that is more important to us than God). When these distractions consistently pull us away from God to the point where we no longer know him as we should, we need to consider how best to refocus our heart and mind. This may include completely cutting out some distractions in order to make time and space for God. Giving up something we love to do may not feel good at first, but replacing it with a relationship with God will feel better than anything we can imagine.