The Icon Breakers

Friday, October 8, 2021

In English, we have the word iconoclast. An iconoclast is someone who goes against the flow, or breaks the rules or traditions. But the word goes back centuries. It comes from a great controversy which took place in the middle ages in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church was covered with so-called, holy images called icons. But there arose a movement that said the hallowing of icons is idolatry. They began smashing the icons. They were called the breakers of icons or, in Greek, the icon-oclasts. But all believers are called to be iconoclasts; that is, we are not to serve, honor, or acknowledge any idol of man, whether of secular man or of the church. But it can't stop there. A true believer is an iconoclast, in that he or she is continually smashing the idols in his or her life and heart. Are there any idols in your life? Is there anything else you're putting your trust, your love, your hope, or your attention in, when it should be in God? If so, then it's your job to smash that idol - and be an iconoclast.

From Message #1232 - The Holy Lawbreaker