We must worship God only. You are thinking, well that is obvious. But, this is one of Satan's greatest tricks. 1 John 5:21 states, "Dear children, keep yourselves from idols," and in Jonah 2:8, "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs." The mention of idols immediately makes us think of the "golden calf" type idols of the Bible. But Satan uses "good things" in our lives to become idols in our lives. What is an idol? Anything, yes anything, that we put before God in our lives. Satan subtly says, "Yes, but your work is important, or yes, but your family is important, or yes, but your kids or your grandkids are important, or yes, but sports is important, or yes, but your style of worship or your style of music is most important." The question is not, "Will you worship?" but, "What will you worship?"
There are all kinds of God-substitutes in our culture. In 2 Timothy 3:4, Paul refers to a time when people would be "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." Our culture is addicted to entertainment and our love for pleasure has become a substitute for love for God. Satan says, "Worship anything but God." In the church we have people who worship tradition rather than God. We have people who worship a certain kind of music rather than God, Himself. If we are not careful, we can even worship worship rather than God. The great issue of all of history is: "Whom will we worship?" Let's settle it now --worship God and God alone. mjm
A Melody from Michael J. . . . a Personal and Worship Blog
