If you want to follow Jesus because He’ll fix your marriage, if you want to follow Jesus because He’ll give you a better life, that’s idolatry. Follow Christ for the sake of Christ; He is worthy!“~ Paul Washer
When we speak of worship, we naturally assume the subject up for discussion is God, but that’s not necessarily true. We all worship many things throughout our lives, whether we wish to admit it or not.
Here is a short list of things people love to worship:
- Identity (we love to worship ourselves, e.g., social media, appearance, etc.)
- Money/Consumerism (rich or poor, we love the worship of money)
- Entertainment (we love to be entertained and worship the entertainers)
- Sex (sex, sex, and more sex, our culture is obsessed with sex)
- Comfort (we love automation and not having to do much)
- Phones (we love our phones and can’t live without them)
These things represent our culture and the extreme individualism and consumerism that compete for our worship. None of these things in themselves are bad, but when they become idols, they rob God of the attention God deserves and demands from each of us. Idolatry is the number one sin in the bible, mentioned thousands of times. There is not even a close second compared to the sin of idol worship. What we worship pulls on us like gravity and leads us to believe that we are in control and can reign it in whenever we want; that sort of thinking is delusional. We must own the fact that we worship many things ahead of God. Next, we surrender, repent, and turn our praise and worship toward the Creator of the universe.
How do we make God number one in our lives and ensure God receives our total praise and worship and is it even possible to do that?
“The opposite of Christianity is not atheism, but idolatry.”~ Peter Kreeft
If we claim to believe in God and consider God to be our Lord and Savior, we should regularly be engaged in passionate worship. The possibilities for worship are limitless. We must learn to worship God in everything we do, e.g., eating, sleeping, working, entertainment, exercising, resting, praying, meditating, and our choice of music, to name a few. If we are not intentional, then worldly vices and self-obsession will steal our attention and demand our worship.
You are encouraged today to be intentional in finding creative ways to worship God. The gratitude and spiritual intoxication you will experience as a result will be incredible. Start with some passionate worship music while drinking your coffee, showering, driving to work, etc. Give praise to God every time you eat and drink today, reminding yourself of how many in the world don’t have clean water to drink or enough food to eat. The key is to intentionally worship the Lord 24/7/365, not just for 90 minutes on Sunday.
Leave a Reply