We Become Like What We Worship
The news recently has been continually driving home the reality that our society has utterly turned its back on God. Of course we know this, but sometimes it just becomes very blatant.
Just in the last few days we have had four reports that show how far we have declined from any attempt to live by God’s standards. One was the shocking Ofsted report that found sexual harassment has become normalised in schools, most of it unreported. Second was the British Board of Film Classification report that people overall, and young people in particular, are increasingly swearing and consider bad language as normal and acceptable. There was a dramatic age divide, with older people mostly saying they would not use expletives in public. Then the House of Lords debated a new Assisted Suicide Bill, which would make it easier for people to end their own lives. And finally, there were the latest horrific figures for the annual number of abortions in the UK, with the 2020 total rising to almost 210,000 lives lost, deliberately killed by the parents and doctors who should have been there to nurture and protect them.
Those who make them will be like them,
Psalm 115:8, NIV UK
and so will all who trust in them.
The psalmist puts it neatly in Psalm 115. Those who make and worship idols will become like them. Unable to see, hear or move on their own, idols are lifeless and useless. Our society has been worshipping the idols of money, sex and power for a long time. Most make no pretence or attempt to acknowledge the God Who made them. Convenience and the toleration of every kind of evil have become the norm, so we shouldn’t be surprised our society is headed downhill fast.
We become like what we worship. As worship leaders, whether in church, in our homes, or wherever we go, we make a difference. When we inspire worship of the true God, worship of our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our congregations and families will draw near to God. And as they worship, they will become like Him. Worship, and Jesus-centred worship leading, changes us, changes our churches, and changes our families. What a wonderful calling and privilege, to know that as we worship and lead worship, we are literally becoming more like God.
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18, NIV UK
Interesting I recently saw an episode of Foyles War, which is a detective drama set in the second world War. One character was facing charges over attempted suicide. The behaviour of the police was very different to today’s police force.
Yes. Of course not all changes have been bad!