The Bible shows us that people were created to worship. Even if they reject GOD and go out on their own. They WILL worship something. That is a 100% guarantee. No matter who you are. And this can easily be proven.
One might say, "Well that can't be true. Because to worship something, you have to be religious. But atheists aren't religious. So they don't worship anything."
The dictionary defines the term "worship" as the following:
1.
a. The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object.
b. The ceremonies, prayers, or other religious forms by which this love is expressed.
2. Ardent devotion; adoration.
Adoration means profound love or regard. Additionally, an idol is defined as a material object.
So. Loving an object is a form of worship. Therefore. Regardless of who you are, you worship something. People in all walks of life tend to be materialistic. Loving "things".
Here are a few real world examples of worship of objects.
1. The Vita-Mix does it all and is seriously worth it! I love our Vita-mix!!!
2. Vitamix is a Life Changer for Sure
3. My Smartphone is my best friend!
4. I named my car casper. Because he is a white 4x8 and I love keeping him shiny!
These are just a few quick examples. As there are likely millions more to be found. Television commercials often show people bragging about how much they love an object of some sort that is for sale. And that we should love it to. Hunters hang animals heads on walls. Fisherman hang fish. People worship cars, jewelry, or anything else they can. They give them names. They love them so much that it becomes impossible for them to get rid of these things. Because in their own hearts, these objects have as much worth as a "loved one".
When we were made to worship, we were made to do so with love. Therefore, when we worship, we WILL love. That is certain. So when we become foolish enough to worship something other than GOD, we WILL love it. And it will become a curse instead of a blessing. We will become fools.
So you see. We must worship GOD. Put Him far above all other things in our life. Because, when we do that, we will stop worshiping other things. Providing we are worshiping the real GOD. This essentially means that we will stop putting our love where it doesn't belong. In objects and people (including ourselves). It would change the way we think and live. We would likely live in a more practical way. Now I know there are people out there that might say "Well GOD is the most important thing in my life. But I still love my car!" But what they fail to realize is that they might love GOD with their mouth. And sometimes they may feel like they do in their heart. But if they REALLY loved GOD, they would love Him with ALL THEIR LIFE AND THEIR WHOLE HEART!
For we have been told NOT to love the world and the things in it. Because the world is evil. And we cannot always recognize ALL things that are evil. As long as we do not love it, we can overcome it. But not without GOD.
We were once under the laws made for this world by GOD. But because of our sinful nature after the fall of Adam, it is impossible for us to live up to them. Therefore, we are DEAD to GOD. Sentenced without any possibility of parole. That is, until Jesus Christ entered the picture. He was sent here by GOD to redeem us. He told us and showed us how to walk the walk. And through His persecution, He was put to death to redeem us of our condemnation of Sin. Then He was resurrected from the death to finalize it. He paid for our Sin. We are indebted to Him. Through Christ, we have the ability to go beyond this world to have eternal life.
But we are not forced to be. We can make the choice to reject the offer. Would anyone reject it? You may think they wouldn't. The price has been paid by the blood of Christ. All we have to do is accept it.
How do we do that? We first acknowledge it. Clearly we must come to know Jesus. We learn about everything He did for us. And we follow Him. He became dead to this world and then rose to eternal life in Heaven. He did so literally. What we must do is to die to this world, figuratively speaking, and then resurrect in the Spirit OF Christ. We could also say that we are walking in Christ.
Many teach a very simplistic form of Salvation. Such as simply "believing" in Christ with your heart through your own will. Or being baptized in water in Christ's name. These ritualistic practices do not get us Salvation. They are thoughts and movements. They are steps. Call them symbolic gestures. They are contrary to what is required for Salvation. I know plenty of people who claim they were baptized. But still have fallen far away from Christ. Anyone who has truly found GOD will never fall away.
Jesus talked about a commitment that was required for entering the gate of the narrow path to Heaven. The narrow path is "through Him". The small gate means that we cannot take anything with us. We must "die to this world". Meaning we must not love the world or the things in it. If we love those video games, we must STOP. If we love those movies, we must STOP. The list goes on and on, and is very long I am sure. We must be transformed within. And although we will never be fully above Sin, considering we are not sinless humans, we will NOT WANT to Sin. Therefore, our way of thinking will be far different than before. We will be following GOD's will instead of our own. Our will is what got us into the mess. But changes do not occur overnight. It is a daily devotion and remindance.
And you can see where it might be difficult to do such a thing. Does it mean that simple sacrifice is the way to Heaven? Not at all. The way to Heaven is through walking in Spirit of Christ. The sacrifices come as a result of it. If they do not come in time, then we aren't walking in Christ. It is important to understand that when we simply sacrifice "because GOD wants us to", then we are simply trying to "work for eternal life". And that requires no acknowledgement of Christ Salvation. Therefore, it will not work. We are just "after something" when we do that. But when sacrifices are the result of our walk in Christ, it becomes something else. Because it isn't our will leading us. Rather it is GOD's. Our intentions are different. And that is important. Because what leads us spiritually is of the utmost importance.
The world we live in today is EXTREMELY tempting. We live in a modern day Babylon. Nearly the whole world is this way. And the parts that aren't are on their way to becoming it. Satan has many people doing his bidding in this world. And they are spreading his evil in the form of good. Such as democracy. To "liberate" people from pain and struggles. But it is really to lavish them and trick them into indulging into the world. Thus, worshiping it instead of GOD. We see this to be true, even in the churches. Many of them are so worldly, that they love each other as family and friends more than they do GOD. Jammed full of traditions. We see how modern society promotes the idea of families loving one another like some form of worship. We may not see them bow to one another. But deep within is where it exists. I even have a close relative that worships one of his so-called friends. His actions prove it many times over because he puts him on a pedestal and invests his time to keep him there. But he doesn't realize that is what he is doing. I personally believe that when we see churches using an unbiblical system of worship, full of rituals and verbal confessions, we are seeing a true weakness in their faith. Because they only know their faith IN Christ. But not the faith OF Christ. Another distinct difference indeed!! Anyone can have faith IN something. It comes from within. And its all about receiving something. Trusting that something will be delivered to us. Or help will come. That is why people define faith differently from person to person. Because it is a result of what comes from within that person. But that is not what we are to be guided by. That is our own will. The faith OF Christ is the Spirit that Jesus carried. Something that we were unable to do on our own. His faith measured up when ours could not. And that is why we must walk in Christ Spirit. Because our faith cannot be our own. It is through the will of Him we get it.
These things will not happen overnight. We devote ourselves. We must grow into it. Because a new seed is planted. A new root takes hold. And we become something different. Struggle is involved. We must face ourselves and see just how spiritually poor we really are. Letting go of all the things this world has placed upon us, making us think that we are "something special" to this world. We should be nothing to it. Because the world cannot save you. It cannot guarantee anything. You can easily end up dead tomorrow. Then what good is all you worked for on Earth going to matter? It won't a single bit. Because that is not what we strive for. We live IN this world. That is for sure. But we should use this world ONLY for living in it. But our minds, hearts, and souls should be aimed at the One Jesus Christ who we belong to. Not in words. But with our LIFE. We do not need to sing a song about it. We do not need to raise our arms in the air and pray like a cult member. How much we change and who we are inside will be recorded, and without all those things. GOD does not expect rituals or "Amens". Any hypocrite can do those things and not know Jesus Christ at all.
Just look at yourself. See what you have done. You have done nothing for GOD have you? You gave to a charity? You helped an older lady across the street? Did you feel good when you did those things? Did you tell someone about what you did? If you did, then you have done NOTHING at all. Because when good works are the result of walking in Christ, we don't feel good about ourselves. We don't silently take the credit. And we don't tell. Because it wasn't our will that led us. And we certainly do not work for ourselves. What we do in this world should be for the greater good that isn't ours. There are millions of people out there rejecting TRUTH. They reject Christ. Therefore, they reject the gift of Salvation. What can we do? This will become our purpose in this life. As long as we are here. There is plenty of need for it. The world hates Truth. It loves lies. Therefore, we MUST get the Truth out there for all to understand. And we need to give it in a way that they will hear it, process it, and hopefully accept it. If they reject it, then they will have no excuse for that. We certainly need the help of Christ to do so. Without Him, we will likely mess things up further.
