How I Fight Gear Idolatry

Idolatry is one of the great sins we face in our journey as Christ-followers. The Word of God warns us of this over and over. The fact of the matter: We will all worship something. If it’s not God, it’s money, fame, comfort, possessions, security, sports teams, video games, other people and so on. This seems to be amplified when it comes to the worship guitar community, and the age of Social Media has only exacerbated the issue.

I believe it to be an accurate assertion that most of us have struggled or are currently struggling with gear idolatry. In fact, I can think of at least two brothers who have recently reached out to me via GfHG to talk about this very issue. They wondered if I ever struggled with it and wanted to know if I could help them battle it. Well, yes and yes. I actively battle it. I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t.

To be completely transparent and a bit vulnerable, my idolatry confronted me face-to-face about 4 years ago (cir. 2015) when I ordered (another) a Veritas Mini Master without first consulting my wife. She saw the PayPal email come through, called me, confronted what she saw as me being incredibly excessive and even obsessive, as a few guitars had showed up over the past month without her foreknowledge.

For us, it wasn’t a financial issue. I am the bread winner, earn a good living and have always taken care of family, savings and home first. So what’s the big deal?

Here’s the big deal: the sin of idolatry and our call to biblical stewardship. These things are important to God, so they must be important to me; otherwise, my faith can be called into question, because I’m not being obedient to Jesus and bearing fruit as I should. I don’t ever want to grow apathetic to the sobering reality that some who call Jesus “Lord” in this life will hear, “I never knew you“, in the next.

Thankfully, through my wife’s rebuke, God turned my heart back toward him. Ashamed and a bit brokenhearted for betraying my wife and sinning against her and God, I agreed. I called Casey Marvin and cancelled the order. How embarrassing. But how necessary. This was a gift from God.

Have I bought gear since then? Yes. Tons of it. What’s different now? My wife is involved and keeps me in check. I defer to her, because I can’t be trusted to exercise sound judgement all the time. As Christians, we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16), and “A Christian mind is impossible without the discipline of refusal” (R. Kent Hughes, author of Disciplines of a Godly Man). My wife helps me see when I need to refuse.

Now, please don’t read this and think that buying gear is a bad thing. We need gear to make the necessary noises. It’s that simple. But let’s be honest about our motivations. If we’re buying gear to keep up with so-and-so or because we want to be seen having the latest-and-greatest, we are neck deep in idolatry.

As Christ-followers, we are to live in a way that shows God is central, God is supreme, God is all-satisfying and all-sufficient. We are to worship him with reverence and awe. To maintain this posture, we must actively fight idolatry. What necessary extremes are we willing to put in place to mortify this sin? While not related to gear, an example from one of my dear friends and brothers-in-Christ will help us see the seriousness we should have about killing sin in our lives. His leading has been so inspiring to me through the years. We will call him Mike. This is the condensed story of his failure and Holy Spirit-enabled redemption.

Mike, married with three (eventually four) children, struggled with pornography. This addiction eroded the trust and intimacy between him and his wife. The devastation was substantial. For all intents and purposes, Mike and his wife had become roommates with children. Mike didn’t want that, of course. He wanted his marriage to be as God intended: fruitful, glorifying to him, intimate, a testimony, even. But he made his own bed by cheating on his wife with pornography. There was no affection. No joy. No life together. No special moments. Just…nothing.

Thankfully, the covenant they made before the Lord kept them together.. Eventually, Jesus started to put together the broken pieces of their lifeless and loveless marriage. This restoration started with Mike’s confession of idolatry and adultery, repentance and, finally, demonstration of his God-granted commitment to purity. Mike went to these extremes to remove temptation.

1. Deleted his social media accounts. Every one.
2. Removed the ability to access the Internet or Youtube from his smartphone. No exceptions.
3. Put filters on Netflix and other streaming services.
4. Will not put his eyes on ANYTHING sensual that doesn’t involve his wife. Period.

Mike still holds fast to these commitments many years removed from that dark time. His marriage and walk with God is more important than pornography. He’s proved it over the years, and his marriage is as healthy as ever. 

I hope that real-life example was enlightening to you. Back to the gear stuff.

Here are some specific things I do to fight gear idolatry, and some things that we can all do in general:

Unfollow my favorite guitar players on Instagram and Youtube.
This is where it has to start for me, because when I see that so-and-so has a new pedal, I want to try it, and it’s for no other reason than simple curiosity. Part of me says, What’s the big deal? Because I can afford to buy pedals. We are in a financial position where it’s not a big deal, but this is a slippery slope. For me, pedals are like a gateway drug that leads to me potentially buying more guitars and other high-dollar purchases that simply are a bad use of the resources God has entrusted me with, and would violate the trust between my wife and I. And if I’m serious about fighting idolatry, I have to be serious about taking this escape hatch God has given me to do so. 

Unfollow my favorite companies on Instagram and Youtube.
This is the same concept as above. When I see new companies coming out with stuff, old companies coming out with new stuff, demoing old stuff or showing pictures of different color guitars, etc., my impulses go into overdrive (pun intended). I literally have a hard time controlling myself. So, I had to unfollow my favorites. My most recent unfollows are Veritas Guitars (love their guitars; I own a few already) and Amara Guitars (love the way their guitars look and my curiosity is uncomfortably high). It was hard, yes. But again, if I’m (we’re) serious about this thing, we have to be radical in our commitment to fight this sin.

Delete the Reverb app and all automatic emails from Reverb.
Mindlessly scrolling through Reverb is more dangerous for me than scrolling through Facebook. This has resulted in more than one impulse guitar purchase and countless pedal purchases. I’ve bought and sold pedals off Reverb without even playing them. Just stupid, really. So, goodbye Reverb. I only visit the site when I need something.

Unsubscribe from Special Offer emails from music retailers, big and small.
Eliminate the temptation to buy. Period.

Delete notifications from Facebook Gear Talk Classifieds.
If I don’t need anything, why do I need to get notifications? Easy logic. I also stopped scrolling through this group for the same reason I stopped scrolling through Reverb.

Pray for sensitivity to the way out.
Scripture tells us that God will never tempt us beyond our ability, and always gives us a way out (1 Cor. 10:13). If you truly desire to overcome gear idolatry, you must get serious about seeing these escape hatches—so pray! Pray that God increases your awareness of the ways out he has provided, and that the Holy Spirit compels you to take the.

Be realistic.
For you folks who have all the gear but lack the skill (I know that’s hard to admit, I really do), be real with yourself: no amount of gear will fix a deficiency in skill. So work on that first. Get the essentials needed to make the sounds, yes. Experiment. Have fun. But don’t think that this overdrive pedal or that guitar will solve all of your problems. In fact, that new piece of gear may make things worse, because it won’t give you the outcome you desire, due to your inability to play in a way that coaxes the desired tone out of said gear. This will result in anger and frustration. Spend more time practicing and developing your skill. The Lord will bless your preparation.

Value your vertical relationship with the Lord and your horizontal relationships more than gear.
If your idolatry of gear is dismantling your relationship with God, then, if you call yourself a Christ-follower, something has to change. If you spend more time watching gear demos, participating in forums, researching, etc., then you spend reading God’s word, that’s a problem. If you neglect your marriage or your kids due to your obsession with gear, that’s a problem. Own it. Confess it. Repent of it. Turn to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of your faith, and let his blood cleanse you.

All this begs the question: Troy, so when do you feel comfortable buying new pedals or guitars?

Test 1: Can I pay cash? Debt is BAD. Especially over something as inconsequential as gear. Thankfully, in my adult, post-conversion life, I’ve never paid interest to buy gear.

Test 2: Would this purchase jeopardize our ability to be generous to the church/others or our plans for the future?

Test 3: I need to make a sound that I can’t make with my current setup, and if the answer to Test 1 is Yes and the answer to Test 2 is No.

Test 4: This new piece of gear may improve my ability to minister to others through GuitarforHISGLORY or improve the sounds I can make for our worship gatherings, and if the answer to Test 1 is Yes and the answer to Test 2 is No.

I share this as a Christ-follower who had severe gear idolatry, and who is progressively being pulled out of it by our merciful Lord and Savior. What I’ve learned is that this all has to be filtered through the lens composed of God being my object of worship, stewardship of God-given resources and the realization that contentment needs to be a goal. It’s a tough balance to maintain, especially with the moving target that is guitar tone, but it’s a balance worth fighting for.

If you’re looking for an amazing book on worship as a lifestyle, this one by Harold Best is THE book.