Skip to content ↓

The Number One Reason We Struggle Overcoming Sin

Sponsored Collection cover image

Idols of the Heart How many times have you wondered, “Why is being holy such a battle? It seems I start to get things right, and then all my good intentions go flying out the window. Why can’t I get over this (whatever this is) and start living the way I know God wants me to?”

The answer is, we have hearts that are torn between the love and worship of God and the love and worship of the world.

Idols of the Heart is written for those of you who desire to live a godly life and yet find yourself in a recurrently disappointing struggle against habitual sin and a lack of undivided love.

This book is written for you who find yourself constantly tripping over the same bad habit, the same embarrassing weakness, the same sinful slavery that you hoped to be free of years ago.

In Idols of the Heart you’ll learn that idolatry—love gone wrong—lies at the heart of every besetting sin that we struggle with.

Even though we don’t bow down to stone statues or make bowls of food to set before our gods, we worship idols in other ways. Idols aren’t just stone statues. No, idols are the loves, thoughts, desires, longings, and expectations that we worship in the place of the true God. They are the things that we invest our identity in; they are what we trust.

Idols cause us to disregard our Heavenly Father in search of what we think we need. Our idols are our loves—gone—wrong: all those things we love more than we love Him, the things we trust for our righteousness or “okay-ness.”

Yet God loves his people and can use even our messy lives and struggles for his glory. In Idols of the Heart, Elyse Fitzpatrick shows us how to better study and know our hearts, long for our gracious Savior, and resist and crush our false gods.

If you’re ready to begin your study, P&R has put together a free devotional adapted from Idols of the Heart. Join Elyse Fitzpatrick as she walks us through the three facets of the heart, how our heart disease keeps us from obedience, and where to find God’s grace in our struggle with sin.

Idols of the Heart


  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (May 27)

    A La Carte: How to do controversy well / Restoring repentant adulterers / Nothing is “just” anything / Was Mary born without sin? / The hill I’m dying on / AI and work predictions / and more.

  • Four Good Questions To Ask Your Tech

    Four Good Questions To Ask Your Tech

    Have you ever considered how much time we spend talking to our tech? How many times a day do we command Alexa, ask Siri, or give an order to ChatGPT? We are in constant communication with our devices and through our devices. And since we are already in the habit of asking them our deep…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (May 26)

    A La Carte: Empty of all but memories / When you don’t feel like going to church / How to be human / Not every sermon is a challenge / The sorrow of saying goodbye / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Prayer Fetched the Angel

    Prayer Fetched the Angel

    We would not pray if we did not have confidence that God answers prayer. And indeed, his Word promises that he does.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (May 24)

    A La Carte: When the music stops / Not every meal is a steak dinner / I don’t know where the streams are / The wonder of forgiveness / Authentic preaching in the age of AI / and more.