“You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about His relationship with you.” (Exodus 34:14 NLT)
We, as human beings, are worshippers at heart. The Hebrew word from which comes our word “worship” literally means “to bow down.” That’s why you will often find altars in our worship centers. One of the best postures for worship is kneeling, because it vividly illustrates our helplessness and dependence upon the One in whose presence we are bowing. The picture painted by the Hebrew word is that of a dog licking its master’s hand, and can also be translated “worth-ship,” that signifies the value or worth of the One whom we worship.
The problem with which we must come to terms is the fact that too often what we worship isn’t deserving and is far inferior to the God of the Bible. We worship ourselves, our possessions, our worth, not only in terms of dollars and cents, but value in terms of our accomplishments or our “position” in society or even in our own eyes. We get so full or ourselves there’s no room for anyone else, even God.
The tragedy is that our pursuit of self-esteem, our worship of ourselves, doesn’t end when we surrender our life to Jesus. On some levels we simply transfer our love affair with ourselves from the secular to the sacred. We mistakenly perceive that we’re simply enlisting the Savior to do our bidding; thus, seeing Jesus in a position of subservience to us. “Prayer” becomes our new means of getting the things we need, be it healing, prosperity, position, or anything else that will elevate us in the eyes of others.
Even worship, including the type of music “we” like, or the spiritual “nourishment” we derive from the Pastor’s message, and God forbid someone sit in our special seat in the auditorium. Micah Fries wrote: “If you judge your church’s worship based on how well you’ve been ‘fed’ you have made yourself the object of your worship.”
Worship is never intended to be about us or for us, it’s only and always an avenue of contrition, posturing ourselves in the presence of almighty God for the purpose of elevating, exalting, and honoring Him. When worship becomes anything less than that it becomes meaningless and purposeless except to exploit something sacred in an effort to make much of us, rather than making much of Jesus.
John in Revelation 15:3-4 wrote: “And they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: ‘Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations. Who will not fear You, Lord, and glorify Your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous deeds have been revealed.”
If we get the object of our worship wrong, we’ll get everything else wrong as well. When anyone or anything else takes the rightful position of the Lord God Almighty, our only means of hearing accurately from God is shut off. We must hold our life, including everything that entails – family, possessions, position, prestige, and all the rest – with open hands before the Lord.
We are nothing without Jesus and unless and until we understand that and seek to live that out daily, the channels of communication with Him will be clogged, thus we will not and cannot be effective in influencing others positively for Him. Please, if that’s you, kneel before Him in repentance and worship.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 