Made to Worship

A move around the world changes a lot of things. I have focused a lot on the changes--the new and different that have invaded our life.  It is easy and even comical (because it's better to laugh than to cry) to write home about the newness. But there is one thing that remains the same. One thing that encompasses people from all sides of the globe. Wherever you are, you will find yourself surrounded by worshippers. From America, to Africa, to Europe, to Asia, the soul of every person on every continent is worshiping something. The secular religion professor at any liberal arts university will claim people created religion to make them feel better, to ease the pain of life, to create some sort of ethics system, to be at the center of their cultural workings.  If you have read any manner of Christian apologetics, most scholars agree that we were made, created to worship.  I would agree. We've all heard it described different ways: There is a hole inside each person that they are searching to fill. There is a longing and yearning for more, for higher, for bigger in each person--a longing we live our lives to satisfy whether we are aware of it or not. We are all drawn to things bigger than we are--the depth of the sea, the grandeur of the mountains, the beauty of rolling hills, the mystery of caves and caverns, the vastness of outer space. I have seen it play out in two different cultures and two different religions, and I am convinced now, more than ever, that all beings will find something to put weight in, something to worship. They must. 

I have observed, in silent brokenness, as my two host cultures bow to things that are not big enough, nor great enough, nor worthy enough to bear their worship. On the outside, the worship could seem beautiful and enchanting.  In Europe there are sounds of bells and scents of incense. There is holy water, beautiful churches painted with ornate pictures of holy gatherings. There is the glow of candles. Kissing of icons. Gifts laid at altars. Bows of humility and money given to saints past. Prayers for healing. Men in robes and people who kiss their ring and ask that they pray to God on their behalf. A room where only those men can go. There are people crossing themselves and hoping all that they have done will be enough. There is great reverence for things sacred. There is great fear of God. He is far off, distant and terrifying.  

In this part of Asia, it really doesn't look that different.  There are ornate buildings, temples, with beautiful banners, pillars, and giant golden or even jade statues. There is a glow of candles, smells of incense, bows to metal carvings, and offerings of food and flowers. The holy men of this religion wear clothes of orange or white--clothes that have no stitch. They have shaven heads and live a simple life hoping to gain some favor for their families and themselves for the next life. And here, there is also great respect, great reverence, great fear for the gods and spirits they worship.  

Like the people we worked among in Europe, the people here can't be sure if they will make it out of this world in right standing with the one they worship. They all admit it. In both places, there are good luck charms and acts of desperation just in case their system of worship fails them. In Macedonia, it was a horseshoe nailed to the front of a car or the door post of a house. It was a tree branch that had been blessed by a priest hung over an entry way. It was fasting from meat and oils to cleanse oneself. It was water, blessed by the priests, placed on their childrens' feet and foreheads to ward off the evil spirits. They read their horoscopes, see fortunes in leftover coffee grounds, and visit witch doctors when healing doesn't come through the church. Peace is foreign. Hope nonexistent. True love unknown.

Here in Asia, there are spirit houses in the yards of most homes and businesses. Candles are lit and food offered every new day to those spirits in hopes that it will appease them. They are terrified of being haunted by loved ones that have gone on before them, and ghosts are a reality to them. Reincarnation is imminent if they are not good enough in this life. They send their sons off to be monks in hopes that it will gain them favor in the next life. 

Peace is foreign. Hope nonexistent. True love, unknown. 

There is still much I don't understand about this new world and its religion. I may never grasp the history and reasons for why they do what they do.  But I have a sweet message for them, the same message I carried to Macedonia. Peace has come. Hope is here. There is true love for the taking. 

I, like all of them, am a worshipper.  I find that some days I battle to worship the one true God. I'd rather focus on myself and my rights. I put weight in things, other than God. Some days my family and our happiness becomes my god. The way I spend my money, the house we live in being exactly the way I want it, my reaction to others when they revile me, laugh at me, or even cheat me; the worry that occurs when the house is quiet and fear rolls through my heart and mind--all of these things show the position of my heart as it bows to self instead of bowing to the one who Created me. Even the very work I do in these foreign lands, which most people would call good work, can become my god, and there have been times it has. My heart is prone to wander.  But my Father speaks to me, to the nations, saying, 

"I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols... And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them. They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to the metal images, 'You are our gods.'" Isaiah 42:8; 16-17

It is God alone, that can carry the weight of our worship because He is transcendent and immanent. He is holy, set apart, bigger than us, far above us. He is the Creator of it all. But He is also with us. Big enough to create me, sustain me, and hold me together and small enough to live in me, strengthening me, loving me, abiding in me. He's the only god who has ever made such a beautiful extraordinary claim. Therefore He is the only god that can bear the weight of our worship, adoration, and love. We can trust Him. He is immovable, and at His Name every knee will bow in Macedonia, in Asia and around the world.

We were made to worship the God of the universe who is a God of love and forgiveness. He is the God who accepts us as we are. He is the God who makes us into something more beautiful than we could ever be on our own. He is the God who promises eternal life as joint heirs with His Son, Jesus, who He sent to die the death that we deserved because we could never be good enough. He doesn't makes us work for our salvation. He already did it all. It is finished. 

He is holy, but oh! He is approachable, kind, full of mercy and grace. He is a God who says, I love YOU, all of you and I want best for you.  He is a God who hears our prayers and who answers when His children call on Him. He is the Great I Am, and He is the only one deserving of man's worship and adoration. Oh how my heart longs to see the worshipers of Macedonia bow only to the One True God. I long to see those in Europe and across this new country where I now live worship the one true and good God in spirit and in truth. 

Perhaps the secular religion professor is partly right. All religions are created to make us feel good, to help us hope.  But my friends, the Christian scholars are on point. You were made to worship the one who made you. It's in you. What you choose to worship can make or break you. And whether you call yourself religious or not, I promise you, you are worshiping something. So today as I beg you to pray for the lost of this world and for those working among them, I also ask that before you do, you examine your heart to see if you, too, have become a worshipper of something other than our great God. Maybe you are worshiping something alongside God, but it is He alone who is worthy of our worship.