“He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his father, Amaziah, had done. But he did not destroy the pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense there.”
2 Kings 15:3-4 NLT
The idea of idolatry feels foreign in the modern west. This is because we have successfully, but to our demise, managed to view pagan worship as superstition that has no place in the modern and thinking world. Yet, idolatry is not a foreign or superstitious thing at all. It is the outcome of a worshipful heart against God. It is an issue of the creature of humanity, rather than the object of his affection. Men need to worship. Perhaps these kings no longer worshipped specific dieties at their shrines, but they did not incline their hearts whole toward God. They falsely believed that not worshipping idols was the same as worshipping God. Yet this lack an object of affection does not create a faithful belief. In fact it merely opens the door for a different object. Man longs to worship, it is a part of his creaturehood. He must worship God completely or he will always diminish him to compete, if not be bested, by other gods in his heart. Multiple examples show it to be so.
JOSH McGARY. COM 