Chris Hedges’ second chapter in Losing Moses On The Freeway broadens our understanding of idolatry to a level that gives this commandment real teeth..  I’ve excerpted about three pages from his book that represents the heart of his insights on idolatry.  (Those of you who have already read it you can skip this quote.  The rest of you will benefit greatly by taking the time to read it)

The danger of idolatry runs through every commandment. But warding off the allure of idols is difficult. The God of the Bible is ineffable, unknowable, hidden. The mystery frustrates and defies us. To worship God, it seems, is to worship nothing. There is no security. Belief in a God we cannot know seems to leave us stranded on an island of insecurities. God is not like the tangible things we can have faith in, not like our idols. Idols comfort us, reassure us and empower us. They can be understood. Idols appear, when we worship them, to give us what we want. It is easier to have idols. It is harder to trust in the unknown, in the darkness, in the voice answering Moses’ request for revelation with the words: “I AM WHO I AM.”
God cannot be summed up in a name. God cannot be described. Only idols provide this certitude. But watch, God seems to say; you will know me when you encounter me. You will see who I am in the profound flashes of self-knowledge that cut through darkness, in the hope that rises out of despair and suffering, in the loving touch of another, in a moral life where we resist the worship of ourselves so others can prosper. God, the experience of God, is real. Poets, painters, composers and writers have struggled for centuries to express this mystery: It is what prophets and religious thinkers, from Buddha to Moses to Mohammed, describe and revere. Those who sanctify their own power deny this mystery: They promise that God can not only be known but also manipulated. False prophets, who say they can harness the power of God for us, lead us away from the worship of God into the corrosive idolatry of self-worship. They seek to speak not only for God, but for the nation, fusing religion and nationalism into a dangerous brew that brings us to kneel before the idol of the state. 
We are burdened by household gods, no longer made of clay, but all promising to fulfill us.  Our computer, our television, our job, our wealth, our social status, along with the brands we wear and the cars we drive, promise us contentment and inform our identity.  These household gods seem to offer well-being, health and success.  But all these gods create cults. And all these cults circle back to us to a dangerous self-worship fed by forces who seek to ensnare us in idolatry.
We can see the idols others worship. It is hard to see our own. We depend on our idols to give us order and meaning. We depend on our idols to define our place in the world. Idols give us a world that appears logical and coherent. Idols free us from moral choice. Idols determine right and wrong. Idols render judgment. We follow. We conform.
           When we see the hollowness of our idols, how they have led us to waste time and energy; when we smash these false gods and peer at the uncertainty of life, those who continue to revere the idols turn against us.  We are expelled from the cult, stripped of its identifying power and left alone. It is easier to remain silent, to pay homage to a false god even after this god is exposed as a fraud. Those who worship idols deal harshly with those who become apostates.
The idols of nation, race, religion, ethnicity, gender and class are idols that demand exclusive and false covenants. These covenants exalt ourselves as long as we only define ourselves through these narrow definitions, and exclude others outside the circle. Idols are always about self-worship. The idols subvert the equality that protects us from tyranny and injustice, the respect that urges us to see the worth and dignity in all human life, even in those who oppose us. But the fear of exclusion, of incurring the wrath of those who worship the idol, sees us willing to justify the ostracism and even abuse of others.
We are joined together, Augustine wrote, as a community by our love of the same object. Human love, he wrote, is always directed either toward God or the self. There are no other choices. The other loves we have in life, the love of status, the love of possessions, the love of power, are always the love of self. We have, Augustine argued, two choices in life. We can embrace the City of God, where we struggle to love to the exclusion of the self, a love that forces us to negate ourselves and our security to conserve, preserve and protect others, or we can embrace the City of Man where unbridled self-interest makes us all enemies. In the City of God, where we make hard and sometimes painful sacrifices for others, we become part of a whole. In the City of Man, where we live only for advancement of the self, we become part of a mob. The commandments, when followed, keep us in the City of God. When violated they exile us to the City of Man.
Those who place their faith in idols seek to flee from the hard demands of the City of God. They seek a larger self, a way to rise above the ordinary; a way to defeat these uncertainties and insecurities. Idols create sacred space around them. They assume the mantle of the divine.  They appear to be God.  (pp 40-42)
 
I suppose we all see ourselves in this passage.  Still its not really clear to us when we are actually worshipping idols.  The distinctions are too subtle.  Besides, we’re only doing what most of our Christian Friends are also doing, right?  Here’s a distinction that helps me and I will pass it on to you.  You can tell an idol by its demands on you.  Idols demand more and more from you for their own sake, with an appetite that is never quenched.  Idols demand worship, sacrifice, obedience, and sacrifice by promising their rewards only if such unwavering allegiance continues.  Idols take our resources: our attention, our time, our energy, and even our love in the quest for their rewards which they have no power to grant.  God offers to take those same things and, by renewing our minds and opening our hearts, show us how to use those resources to gain the joy and meaning that is at the heart of the longings which attract us to idols in the first place.  God loves irony.