The Well of Worship Ok.. so.. why worship? Why bow? Why bend your knees in adoration to anything or anyone? It seems totally contrary to everything in us. We all want to live for fun.. for enjoyment.. for pleasure... for enough money to get us to the next month, and have a bit left over for the pastimes we've come to know and love.. and hopefully some for retirement days. But why worship? I mean.. if you have so many obligations.. so many pastimes.. so many people depending on you.. how could you even *begin* to think of doing homage to anyone? I know that feeling.... well! :) I think it's probably one of the most prevalent struggles today.... What place does worship have in our lives? Part of the confusion is that we end up worshipping things all over.. without even knowing it. Oh we may not literally bow on our knees and kiss the ground of that thing we're worshipping.. but.. we worship just the same. Now I'm not going to go into a list of all that can be worshipped... or that people are worshipping today.... Because there are 6 billion people on this planet.. and all.. to a great degree... are "worshipping" something in one manner or another... it's just.. we end up choosing things to worship that end up worshipping us. This is precisely what happened so many years ago all over the world when mankind first left God behind. People.. instead of giving the One Real God His due.. gave in to inclinations in their minds and hearts.. and constructed.. out of clay.. or stone.. or jewelry.. some manifestation that was to represent this 'god' they were to worship. Yet.. the problem was.. in turning away from the only Real God.. their hearts got so darkened that they ended up giving worship to a god that.. the humans themselves.. created from their own minds.. most likely with a lot of help from satan. Yes, satan. He's as real as God is.. but nowhere near as powerful. He's no "god".. but merely an angel who decided he wanted to be exalted to the level of God, Himself.. And because he took it upon himself to reach this height of "exaltation".. God cast him out of Heaven. And as a continuing result, satan does all he can to twist things.. everything from the meaning of simple words, to the importance of manners, to who the *real* God is. And see.. that's one of our biggest troubles.... the notion that.. even if you may point to the right God by His name... you may not be pointing to Him by character. If you don't follow.. I'll explain... If a person started talking about you to a friend of yours.. and started telling him how helpful you are and how courteous you are to others.. but, in fact, you aren't that helpful *or* courteous... then, although that person may be "crediting your account" as it were.. it's with empty money... something that isn't factual. Likewise.. if another person talked to your friend.. and started saying how horrendous your habits are.. and how difficult you are in the simplest of things... but if it isn't true... it will, in this case, be debiting your account.. but with empty bills. Yet, your friend.. on his own.. can decide to believe these "informants".. or not. It is up to your friend to ascertain the truth of what was said... maybe find out why it was said (if it was in error, especially).. and deal with it properly. Yet.. there's one little problem. Your friend may be so busy with his own life that he ends up believing the informants out of laziness... out of simply refusing to make a stink and believe otherwise... even though it is well within his ability to find out whether the informants were telling the truth. Now let's turn this around... let's make *you* the friend.. and *God* the person being talked about. Many people in this world are going to tell you about Who God is.. what He's like.. what He's not.. How good He is.. or how Wrong He is about things.. but everyone's going to have some opinion about God... and unfortunately, nobody's is going to be perfect. But even moreso.. many of the people giving reports.. know *NOTHING* at all about God.. they simply want their picture taken.. so to speak. They want to be held up by the unthinking mob as "religious" or "messianic"... someone who "knows the truth".. even when they know only what their own minds have "conjured up". So.. in this case.. we have all types of people as both types of informants -- those who bring "good reports" and those who bring "evil reports".. good reports being true ones, and evil reports being false ones. Even priests and preachers and ministers of all kinds can bring evil reports of who God really is.. and what He wants. Why does it happen? It's actually quite simple -- because people like jumping out ahead of their instruction.. and worshipping their own minds rather than God. Yup.. worshipping. They put God's own revelational authority behind them, and simply strike out.. holding onto some idea that lifts themselves, the informants, up as someone truly "guru-ish".. why? Because they have this innate inner desire to be... you guessed it... worshipped, themselves. And satan does the same thing. Out of a desire to see himself.. his lies... his own ways.. his own fractured "truths".. and his entire entourage of fallen angels (or demons) *worshipped*.. he propogates his own ear-tickling ideas to the "friend"... i.e. -- you. satan does all he can to bring people into your life who will tell you what you want to hear.. along with things that scare you silly.. all in order to make you believe that God isn't Who He truly is. satan does all he can to make you think that.. you guessed it.. *you* are more worthy of worship than the real God is. Oh he may not let you see it that way... but.. when you worship something that is truly below yourself (such as fallen angels or mental constructs/fake ideas of "gods").. you end up actually saying that you are more worthwhile than the gods you serve.. for they were truly created by man -- and man's indellible imprint is watermarked on it. Oh if you close your eyes tight enough, you'll *of course* not see it.. but.. it's there nonetheless. Ok.. so.. you're not bowing down physically and prostrating your body before these ideas in your head.. or your sports heroes.. or what have you... but.. you *are* doing them inner heart-felt homage... an homage that they truly don't deserve.. but that you enjoy feeding them.. since they are truly no better than you.. and in worshipping them, you worship yourself. So.. why not worship God? Why is it so easy to worship someone or something else? Part of it is definitely satan's doing. satan knows how to feed your mind with pleasures by stimulating various idolatrous (yes.. idolatrous.. idol-worshipping) ideas.. things that lift us up as better than we are... as bigger than we are... as more of a "superman" than we are. But.. Ok.. there is *ONE* *****VERY***** important part of truth I must mention. I know what it's like to feel so down that you want out of this life... that you think the world would be better off without you.. that you hate every mention of your name cuz you feel you're only going to get hurt again.. I know it well. And I know how much we want to be truly uplifted in our hearts and minds.. and to have someone tell us that we're worthwhile. And ya know what... YOU ARE!! :) And so am I!?? YUP!! See.. that's part of satan's tactics too. satan loves to attack us at the core facets of our beings... i.e. our self-images. If *we* feel we're not worthwhile.. then we are very apt to be our own worst enemies... just as if we think we're king of the hill. Either edge of the pendulum-swing is satan's favorite territories. satan loves to get you full of pride.. so that you think you don't even need God.. that you're a self-made-man.. (or woman).. and that God is merely some fictional character who people make up to give *them* a crutch in their minds. satan also loves to get you off by yourself.. wallowing in pain.. confused.. sordid.. totally cutting yourself to pieces with all the voices he throws at you... both from your own mind and from fellow human beings (including parents, teachers, and any other mentors or peers)... as well as from his own demon-hoarde. satan will do his best to get you to think that God is someone other than who He really is.. or that you are less worthwhile than others.. or more. It's like Joyce Meyer explained... it's like a pendulum... we all hate balance.. so we run from one edge of the pendulum to the other. We run with the forces pushing us.. so we listen to satan and either think ourselves less than nothing.. or more than anything. Yes.. that swing can get less and less of an amplitude/height.. but it's still mankind's tendency to swing to one side or the other.. rather than find the balance that God *gives*.. yes.. *gives*.. not something we can manufacture ourselves. But back to worship. We all think things (though we may not audibly rehearse them mentally) like, "If I get a compliment at this dance, I'm hot stuff!".. or, "If I don't get asked to dance tonight, I'm scum." You can take that over every part of life... We rely on what others tell us, and how they treat us, to inform us of whether we are worthwhile. If nobody talks to us for a week.. other than our family.. we may conclude that we truly *are* a nerd.. or a geek.. or a LOSER!. Those words may echo in our every heartbeat.. as we attempt to go through life.. trying to find real purpose and reason for living. And I *KNOW*.. *****BELIEVE ME***** I know.. what it's like to have to handle all that. I know what it's like to be so cast out and ignored.. and also to be cheered on for being unique.. both for unimportant reasons. And many of us.. in an attempt to find real meaning, peace, and station in this life.. end up seeking out such praise from others... But what *is* praise..? Well.. praise.. when it's taken far enough.. can *become* worship! I'm not saying that all praise is bad... it's not. The Bible even says it's a good thing for us to have... But the problem is, we can't depend on it. We can't depend on others to guaranteedly cheer us on when we truly need it. We can try.. but.. they may let us down. In the end.. all that searching for praise leads to one place -- letting the crowd decide who you are, and not finding out who you *really* are. But this is part of what we're all fighting for. We all want to *know* that we're worthwhile. We want to *know* that we, in and of ourselves, as we are, warts and all.. are *INDEED* valuable. But.. how does this best happen? Here's the kicker. :) See.. like I said at the beginning.. worshipping God in name is far different from worshipping Him in Character. Believing in His truly *being* Jesus' Father.. is one thing. But living the life that Jesus called us to live is yet another. Look at Islam... they believe there is *one* God.. but.. they attribute *VERY* different characteristics to Him than did Jesus.. or the writers of the Bible. So.. Who really *IS* God? That is something that we all need to put first in our lives... to truly *SEEK* Him first.. putting a rightstanding with Him.. both for ourselves, and for others, as the ultimate top of our lists of things to do. NOBODY but God's Spirit.. on this planet.. knows God completely. No preacher.. no matter how long they've "known God".. has a total understanding of God's *INFINITE* and **UNFATHOMABLE* love. No matter how much studying you do.. there is far more that one can learn.... far many more ways to find out about God's love and patience and joy and caring. I can only just begin to tell you about the God I know in my heart.. and things that He shows me. Including the reason for this essay. See.. worshipping *ANYTHING* or *ANYONE* other than God and Jesus is *VERY* easy.. because our own hearts *naturally* run away from God.. and *NATURALLY* stray into dangerous pasture. We run after things that merely "taste 'good'" rather than after what is truly healthy. And.. see.. God wants us.. not to merely run after these alluring (yes.. a - lure - ing.. like bait on a fish hook) and appetizing delights.. but to embrace.. WHOLEHEARTEDLY.. *TRUE* worship.. of the Ones Who, Themselves, are the *ONLY ONES* worthy of it... and the only ones we ever *should* worship. But.. since our hearts naturally stray.. and since God loves us so much... He makes it *TOTALLY* our choice to worship Him... to not merely bend the knee and raise our hands and lift our voices.. but to live out Jesus' love in our own lives.. which will *UNDOUBTEDLY* *include* such demonstrations of prostration before Him. Why..? Because He's God.. Because He's worthy of it. Because.. and here's the kicker... because He loves you and provides for you and is the ultimate fountain of all that is truly good -- not necessarily "good" as you may have come to know it.. but *REAL* good.. as defined by the person who invented the word. :) So.. it's really your choice.. as it is mine.. and everyone else's. It's up to us to live out a life of.. (I still struggle with this word).. "surrender"... yes.. surrender to the Real God.. not merely who people claim Him to be. He *is* Jesus' Father.. but so much more. He *IS* the Infinite God who created the universe, and holds it all in His hand... but so much more. He is the One who longs to hold you so close that you'll never cry again... and wants more than anything to do just that. He loves us all.. by *HIS* definition of the word "Love". And He's not about to let go of any of us who truly put Him first... who truly... yup.. worship Him.