21"You shall not plant for yourself an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the LORD your God, which you shall make for yourself.
22"You shall not set up for yourself a sacred pillar which the LORD your God hates.
I have never worshiped an idol in the Old Testament sense of the word. That isn't what we did in our family. In fact, for my growing up years there was no formal worship of any kind except on Easter and Christmas. And so this idol worship thing seems to be irrelevant to my life. However, I have learned over the years that idols can be anything that becomes a focus for me. Using that understanding, I have worshiped so many idols. Things like staying in my comfort zone, being viewed as a good Christian, knowing the Bible, reading books, exercise, eating, being a great Mom and so much more have consumed me at various times of my Christian life. The bottom line is that God hates idols. He hates them because they cripple us and keep us from growing in intimacy with Him who is our source of all that is good for us.