My children, keep yourself free from idols

Something I have been mulling over is something I have read and re-read in Isaiah 44. The portion where Isaiah goes off on the lunacy of taking one tree and using half as a source of fuel to cook food and the other half to be carved by man's hands into a form that then becomes one's god. The thoughts that I have are these: Jehovah God was the one who gave us the tree in the first place as a good thing that is useful. We can praise God for its provision. But to then make it into a source of life, one that you go to for nourishment, for protection against bad things, for pleasure or escape, for answers when feeling lost, for power over foes...well then, it has now become a futile idol.

One litmus test for me is to ask myself, is this relationship, this position, this item, this exciting plan, one that God intended to bless me with, but I have now turned it into a source of life for me? Do I grow afraid at the thought of losing it? Do I value the thought of it more than God? Do I spend inordinate amounts of time thinking, defending, pursuing it? God gave me this thing (strength, money, a friendship, a love of beauty, a love of sports, a love of words) but never to become a source of life for me. He wants me to step away from the intensity of my emotions, and hold the 'idol' loosely, and ask Him to reveal anything unwholesome about it and let Him transform it from idolatry to a recognition of this being just one of His provisions.