You Become What You Worship

"For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles." -Romans 1:21-23

The Bible tells us that we were made in the image of God, that we were set in the Garden as God's icons, as his idols even, making visible his unseen care and rule and joy. We were made to behold and reflect God's beauty, mirrors to his face, moons to his sun. But we're dumb ("fools" is the technical term), so we stopped doing that and started looking at other things, looking to them to save and satisfy us. And the image began to seep away. Our minds, made to consider and ponder and form new ways to worship, became futile in their thinking. The lights went off inside. We're solar-powered; as soon as we duck in the shade, our systems shut down. We're cut off from the Source. The writer of Psalm 115 nails this: "Those who make [idols] become like them; so do all who trust in them." Those who worship dead things become like them: unseeing, unhearing, unfeeling. Unliving.

If that doesn't make you a little squeamish, you probably haven't reckoned with the fact that money can be an idol. Marriage. Beauty. Power. Possessions. Popular opinion.

Worshiping idols undoes us, tears at our fibers. But gloriously, God's made a way out. A true worshiper, the True Worshiper, came into the world to rescue us out of the hole we were digging. He loved God with all his heart (the only one who ever did), but on the cross he became our idolatry so that we could become his worship of God. He beckoned us back into the light, clothed in his record of righteous praise. And now, as the Holy Spirit shows us the beauty of Christ in that very good news, "we...are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another" (2 Cor 3:18). Jesus turns back the clock on our disfiguration, and as we worship Christ, we become like him.

You become what you worship. Choose wisely.

A Thanksgiving Conflation

"Bless the LORD, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity,

who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit,

who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."

(Psalm 103:2-5)

"What shall I render to the LORD

for all his benefits to me?...

I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving

and call on the name of the LORD."

(Psalm 116:12, 17)

"The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me."

(Psalm 50:23)

The Psalmist's response to all of God's goodness to him, to God's salvation and care and hearing of prayer, is to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving. My ESV Study Bible notes tell me that this sacrifice of thanksgiving was one of the peace offerings (Lev 7:11-18) God established for his people to create a rhythm of remembrance, a routine of returning thanks to God for all his undeserved gifts. The peace offerings, of which the thanks offering was one, were different from sin and guilt offerings in one important way: the peace offerings were eaten by the offerer. The sin and guilt offerings, at least the portions that weren't burned up, could only be eaten by the priests; they were holy to the Lord. But when the thanksgiving sacrifice was offered, the meat was enjoyed by the offerer, his family, and the needy. As a reminder that God didn't need the offering, as if he was hungry, he returned it to the people. It was, I'm told, a meal enjoyed together in the presence of God, its Provider and Host. The grateful family sat around the Lord's table and received each course as though it had been passed by the invisible hand of their divine benefactor.

Today, as we ourselves gather around tables spread with the bounty of a good God who sends rain and sun on those who don't deserve it, don't let "Thanksgiving" lose its vertical direction. Make room at your table for One more. No matter who rose early this morning and spend hours up to her elbows in turkey, God is the Host of all our meals. He, as he did with the Israelites, invites us to eat in his presence, to bask in his provision, and to return to him a sacrifice of thanksgiving. In light of all his benefits, and supremely his salvation in Christ, how can we do any less?

A Selective History of Provision

When Adam needed food, God had already made some.

When Adam needed a wife, God gave him Eve.

When Abraham needed a son, God gave him Isaac.

When Jacob (that rascal!) was on the run, God gave him flocks and a family.

When there was a famine in the Promised Land, God gave his people a home in Egypt.

When Egypt enslaved them, God set them free.

When they were hungry and thirsty, God gave manna, quail, and water from the rock.

When the people needed a king, God gave them David.

When the people were in exile, God brought them home.

When everyone needed a savior, God gave us Jesus.

When Brett doubted that God was going to take care of his family, that was dumb.

When a chapter begins this way, I already know I'm in trouble.

"Of course the preacher is above all others distinguished as a man of prayer. He prays as an ordinary Christian, else he were a hypocrite. He prays more than ordinary Christians, else he were disqualified for the office which he has undertaken....Over all his other relationships the pre-eminence of the pastor's responsibility casts a halo, and if true to his Master, he becomes distinguished for his prayerfulness in them all."

-C.H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, ch. 3: "The Preacher's Private Prayer"

Cue conviction.

Thanks for your honesty.

(This is true of me. You, too.)

"My life looks good I do confess
You can ask anyone
Just don’t ask my real good friends
‘Cause they will lie to you
Or worse they’ll tell the truth
‘Cause there are things you would not believe
That travel into my mind
I swear I try and capture them
But I always set them free
It seems bad things comfort me

[Chorus]
Good Lord I am crooked deep down
Everyone is crooked deep down
Good Lord I am crooked deep down
Everyone is crooked deep down
Everyone is crooked deep down"

-Derek Webb, "Crooked Deep Down"

Good thing there's this.

Two Potent Implications of Ephesians 5:22-33 for Husbands

1. A good marriage is a return to the bliss of Eden, a kind of heaven on earth.

2. Like any other kind of heaven, nobody makes it there without somebody getting crucified.

Weighed Down?

I like what it says about God that this is what makes Jesus really mad:

"[The scribes and the Pharisees] tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger." -Matthew 23:4

If your view of God is that he likes to tie up heavy burdens and lay them on your shoulders, hear rather the voice of Jesus:

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." -Matthew 11:28