Becoming Like Your god

PSALM 115:4-8

“Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; Eyes have they, but they see not; They have ears, but they hear not; Noses have they, but they smell not; They have hands, but they handle not; Feet have they, but they walk not; Neither speak they through their throat. They that make them shall be like unto them; Yea, every one that trusteth in them.”

Now if you are anything like me, your first thought after reading this might be:

 “Yeah well this does not apply to me, because I trust in the TRUE and LIVING God JEHOVAH, YAHWEH, ELOHIM! So these verses have nothing to do with me!

I mean after all you will never see me bow before a golden image, or even a rock, or tree. You won’t ever see me rub Buddha’s belly. No I do not worship idols! This does not apply!”

But perhaps with further meditation, and deeper searching of your heart God will reveal to you what He has to me.

No I don’t physically bow to any type of image, and I don’t physically rub Buddha’s belly, but in a metaphorical sense I do these things! No my idol worship is a lot more subtle, more hidden, and almost unrecognizable (were it not for the Holy Spirit!)

We as Americans don’t physically bow or rub belly’s, but we do worship at the feet of other gods, rather than the true and living God!

My idols are my own self. You only worship what you trust and love, and you only trust and love in something because you have a desire and you think that desire will be fulfilled in what you are trusting.

So for me it looks like this: I trust and love myself, and I do this because I have the desire for the praise of men (I want to be worshipped), and how I get that (or hope to get that) is to stay skinny (eating disorder/really it is just simply sin, but for the sake of clarification…eating disorder).

Wow! It actually hurt to write this out! To realize before my very eyes the sad state and endless cycle of uselessness!

 I believe that all false worship can boil down to quite literally a worship of self. Because whether you are an American worshiping yourself, or money, or a car, or a sport, or your job, or another person, or whether you are less sophisticated and you are an Israelite bowing to the calf while Mo is up on Mt. Sinai receiving the commandments, or you are a Buddha Belly rubber, all of us want the same things: to feel good, and to have our desires fulfilled! We worship the “thing” so to get what we want.

But the whole thing is backwards and wrong! Because first off we are worshipping the wrong thing, and secondly we are worshipping for the wrong reasons!

And when we do that, the verses I shared at the beginning tell us exactly what we will become, we will become like our idol, USELESS and hopeless!

Think about it! As a Christian this would mean that you would be rendered useless! How? You might ask. I mean after all, our hearts are always wandering. For we are always either, worshipping the wrong thing, for the wrong reasons, or the Right Person with the wrong reasons.

You see there are two battle fields that we will always fight on. Either we will be tempted to worship the wrong thing with the wrong reasons or the right Person with the wrong reasons and when we do this, every part of our life is affected by this!

How? You might ask. We worship every moment of everyday! So that means two things: First you will always be in battle! No wonder God exhorted us to put on His armor!

Every moment of everyday battle lines are being drawn, and many of them very subtly! Think about it, this very moment you are worshipping something…what is that something? Are you alert to this? Are you engaged? Or are you just “passively” worshipping (no worship is passive, though sometimes it may have the appearance.)

Secondly the fact that we worship everyday means that we are always serving that which we worship! So if we are worshipping the wrong thing with the wrong reasons, we are useless because everything we do is done for the wrong thing and with the wrong reason.

It is like as if we are playing soccer and we are the blue team going against the red. And we begin to hate the very team we are on (God) and we purposefully score a point for the red team (false god). We served the wrong team and it was no accident we did it for the wrong reasons, for the praise of the other team!

But you might say, well what about those who worship the true God, but for the wrong reasons. Meaning that they make Elohim to be but a mere genie in a lamp, pulling Him out only as trouble comes or as they need something. In other words He is just someone to fulfill our needs.

We are still rendered useless as servant’s to Him because everything we do will be for our own praise, and Jesus told the Pharisees’ that those who worship God for the wrong reasons will get one prize and one alone: the praise of men! Earthly praise. But as Christians that is never our aim! Our aim is to lay up treasures in heaven!

So you see that way, you are always in a battle for your heart, you are always worshipping, and you are always serving. We don’t have to be told to worship or serve, we always will, but we do need to be told Who and why to worship! It is always then not only just about Who we worship and serve, but WHY we worship and serve!

So have you been rendered useless? Have you become like your god?? Unable to do anything :

PS. 115:4-8 “They have mouths, but they speak not; Eyes have they, but they see not; They have ears, but they hear not; Noses have they, but they smell not; They have hands, but they handle not; Feet have they, but they walk not; Neither speak they through their throat. They that make them shall be like unto them; Yea, every one that trusteth in them.”

But know this, no matter what God will always get the glory and His purposes will always be accomplished! Even if you are scoring points for the other team (by worshipping the wrong thing, for the wrong reasons) or if you are worshipping Him with the right reasons, He still will WIN!

So whether you are a Paul, totally sold out for Christ, totally engaged in the battle for worship and service, or whether you are Judas who has started playing for the opposing team, or whether you are a Pharisee who is worshipping the true God but with the wrong motives, take NOTE you will still be used of God! He has a wonderful power to take and turn things inside out and use them for His glory!

So no matter what He always wins! Are you on His side? It is a daily battle for your heart, are you engaged? Are you aware?? Or are you just passive, not taking note??

Psalm 116:17a "I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving."  And vs. 16 talks about our being set free from the chains of sin. Application of all this is we need to give God thanks for the sacrifice of His Son, for being our creator, because He is above us all (right reason for worship).

To give thanks for a sacrifice requires a sacrifce:

Romans 12:1-2 "I appeal to you brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your REASONABLE act of Worship!"