Galatians 4:8

⁸ Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.

Worship is a deeply instinctual aspect of the nature of man.  Simply put, man cannot help it, we must worship something.  And so, what a tragedy that anyone would be so grossly ignorant of God that they would elevate any number of random, everyday items, persons and ideologies into the position of a “god” in their lives.  But such is the nature of fallen man; created to worship, and yet, because of sin, lacking a knowledge of whom we were created to worship.  Mankind is lost in a sea of ideas, superstitions, ideologies and cults of personalities.  And yet, isn’t it interesting that these lost men, the world over, are so zealous for their “god”?  Slaves to “gods” who by their very nature and definition are not gods at all!   And yet, man remains deeply devoted to these idols.  There is no end to the “gods” of the world.  To some their god is “science” (the science they serve is not science at all), education, materialism, sex, homosexuality, drugs and much more.  To others their god is a celebrity, “Mother Earth,” naturalism, government, or spiritualism.  Of course, this is to say nothing of the over 4,000 religions worldwide that men devote their entire lives, attention and worship to.  Rather than simply existing without any form of god, man cannot help but to fix their attention on something in which to elevate to a place of godlike status in their lives.  In doing so, men become slaves to completely useless, dead, inanimate ideas and objects.  Bowing, serving and zealously worshipping…literally nothing!  “Gods” that are unable to help, answer prayer, heal and, most importantly, offer salvation.  And yet, the fervor in which these lost souls serve their “gods” often puts the zeal of service and worship of many Christians to shame.  Dear Christian, think for a moment, if you can, of the various gods that you served before your eyes were opened to the Living God.  Was there anything that would stop you from serving your “god” with all your heart, soul and mind?  Alcohol, materialism, sex, education or whatever your god may have been, these things were the very focus of your living and breathing.  Slaves to death.  However, today we praise the Lord that those days are over!  “⁸ Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.”  However, there remains a question for all of us today.  Did you, perhaps, serve your former “god” with more zeal, fire and fervency than you do Jesus Christ?  I know our knee jerk reaction is “no way!”  But knee jerk reactions are not helpful to us.  Are you really serving and worshipping Jesus Christ more than you served your former god?  I have seen people at various music concerts, and it always saddens me to see the excitement, zeal and joy that fills their hearts at a concert, and then see their disinterested, critical, and uncaring attitudes during cooperate Christian worship on a Sunday morning.  There are people who are willing to give up their children, jobs, marriages and livelihoods for the sake of alcohol, drugs, sex and much more…and yet, are we willing to give up even our simple comfort to share the Gospel with another person.  We often say we are committed to God, and yet the overwhelming majority of our lives are spent on menial, selfish, and worldly-minded ideas and tasks.  Dear Believers, we now know God!  Or rather, He knows us!  We are in the service of a much better Master than we were formerly.  What an amazing truth this is, so amazing, I think it is far past the time that we worship and serve God with even more fire and fervor than we have ever served anything before!  The Lord is worthy of all of our praise, all of our time, all of our hearts and all of our faith.  Let’s continue to grow in our zeal for worship and service to Jesus Christ.  We are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let’s spur one another on to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John