6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. 7 All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods! – Psalm 97:6-7
Worship is sneaky. If we were to disengage ourselves from the daily grind and examine objectively our actions and heart alignment, I wonder what idols would rise to the top of our affections. We too often dismiss the thought of idols.
Our cell phones?
Our eating habits?
Our kids sports schedule?
All good things of course, but anytime we find ourselves defending something, it is often because of the wrongful place it has in our heart. Idolatry is any time a good thing becomes a God thing, ending up in a bad thing. Following Jesus is not so much about saying no to something as it is saying yes to the better thing. When we worship something other than Him, it is because we don’t believe He is truly better. Sin is a mutiny to God’s command. It is us usurping His seat on the throne of our heart and taking a seat.
I worry we (myself very much included) so often try to normalize sin. We spend more hours on tech than we do in prayer. We spend our best thought life on the passing things of this world. We worry about getting ahead more about promoting others ahead of ourselves. These are national values we have simply accepted. May we be a people that don’t fall into the love of worthless things. May our affections for Christ outweigh and color our love for this world.
Lord, humble the idol factory of our heart.
Matt simon blog 