Are you worshipping God?

Are you worshipping God? People have a natural inclination towards religion, towards worship. Look at history or even your own experience, people always assume a divine existence. Atheism does not occur naturally. Neither does the worship of the one true God, because nature, including human nature, has been broken by sin. Sin warps our worship, it warps your worship, it turns it into idolatry. So, are you worshipping God or an idol? What idols do you struggle with?

Most people in the West are not tempted to worship physical idols. I have never been tempted to bow before a statue or offer a goat to carving, I doubt you have either. Idolatry is still a problem, it is still a problem for people in Christian churches. We have idolized secular things. We worship things like work, family, sports, kids, happiness, pleasure, and…the list goes on. This variation of idolatry creates the same moral and spiritual decline as the idolatry practiced in Greece and Roman more than 2000 years ago.

Because we are guilty, sinners, we will have to be on constant guard against the pull of idolatry. We will always struggle with the pull of created things. We will always desire to turn left or right from the worship of God. What most Americans I see worship, is the American Dream or some variation of it. Most want a good job where they make enough money to be comfortable and have fun. They want a good family, a pretty wife or handsome husband and successful kids. They want to go to pretty places on vacation and enjoy their weekends. They want a good reputation in their community. And they want to be remembered.

Faith and church are a part of that American dream for many, but they are not at the center, they are just one part of the American dream. God is good, we want him in our lives, but only to the extent that faith does not interfere with the rest of the elements of our American dream. If we would have to cut a fun weekend short to be a church, we skip church. If our kids would have to miss out on a baseball game, cheerleading, band, football, volleyball…we skip church. If we’re tired because we went to prom or chaperoned the homecoming dance, we skip church.

We don’t read the Bible at home because we’d have to surrender one of the TV shows we watch or again, miss out on some activity that will help us create the successful family we desire as part of our American dream. We’d have to let someone else pick up the overtime that will help us have the fun weekend the next time around. So again, are you worshipping God? Is He really first in your life?

Worshipping God is all-consuming and all-encompassing. If worshipping God is part of your American dream, it’s not actually the worship of God. Either He is first or He is not and He will accept nothing less. If you have to choose between worshipping God and something else you really want to do…what will your choice be?