Covetousness, which is idolatry

For several years I have read through the Scriptures with a friend. Even though we have been geographically separated, since we have read on the same plan, it has enabled us to talk about what we're reading and learn from one another.

That friend recently asked me a keen question,

"God mocks the idolatry of the people through Isaiah (44) by showing that one half of a stump they carve into an idol, to which they bow down, and the other half they burn for heat. Their folly is obvious. In modern western culture, we don't set up wooden idols and pray to them. So what are our idolatries that are just as foolish as theirs?"

I have been puzzling over that for some weeks now. Certainly we worship people. Look at how people behave at pop music concerts, or sporting events. Consider how people talk about being in the presence of a celebrity. (I found myself guilty of this when I ran into Bono.) Yet I would take it that these many idolatries, though wicked, are not the central idolatry of our culture.

Today I read in Colossians 3:5

Put to death therefore [because you have died and your life is hidden with
Christ in God] what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion,
evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

That last phrase stopped me in my tracks. That is our idolatry. Covetousness is at the very core of our culture. We want what belongs to another: material things, adulation, health, beauty, leisure, etc. That is the foundation of marketing, which is the linchpin of our present economy.

What is covetousness? The basic definition is: desiring that which belongs to another. It is wrong, not only because the thing desired belongs to another, but because that thing cannot satisfy. When we covet, we attribute worth (the ability to satisfy) to that which cannot satisfy. That is how covetousness is synonymous with idolatry. It is just as stupid as it is wicked. And the wickedness of it blinds us to the stupidity. So we do not see that: "On account of these the wrath of God is coming" (Col 3:6).