July 29, 2010

WORSHIPING GOD

Scripture Reading - Revelation 22:1-9

      It's alarming to observe how easily people worship the wrong things.  No, most Christians would never dream of worshiping an idol, a tree, or an building.  They worship their loving, caring pastor or someone special to them.  Some even worship a Christian organization.  They allow someone--or something--to take God's place in their worship.  The simple truth is that anything that takes God's place is an idol!

     When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, He said, " I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  Thou shalt have no other gods before me" ( Ex. 20:2-3, emphasis added )

     In today's Scripture reading, we read about the apostle John who wrote the Book of Revelation.  In the reading, we find a valuable, interesting principle about worship.  The Angel of God revealed to John the great things he should write.  John was so overwhelmed with the experience that he fell at the angel's feet to worship him ( v. 8 ).  The angel said John must not worship him but "worship God" ( v. 9, emphasis added ) and only God.  Though the angel was a heaven-sent being from God, he was not an object of worship.  So important is this truth that it's God's last statement in the Bible about worship.

     Is God our focus in worship?  Any worship without God at the center is false worship.  It may stir our emotions and make us feel good.  It may make us want to do better and try harder.  It may even draw us closer to others.  But if God isn't the object of our worship, that "worship" contributes nothing of eternal value to your lives.  It's nothing more than "wood, hay, [ and ] stubble" ( 1 Cor. 3:12 ).

ACTION POINT:  Is your family allowing anything to take God's place as the object of your worship?  If so, confess your worship of that object, REMOVE IT, and make God the center of your worship experience.

--Jack Palmer--