We All Worship Something

"There's a God-shaped hole in all of us... And the restless soul is searching..."

While reading through one of my books for school, I came across this phrase: "Human beings were made to worship." The author adds that we all worship something or someone, whether we realize it or not. The image that comes to mind for me is the story of the golden calf, found in the book of Exodus of the Old Testament.

The people of Israel had just been rescued from slavery in Egypt. During their rescue, they witnessed a series of miracles as God sent plagues upon the land. They saw how the blood of lambs smeared over their doorframes protected them from the angel of death. They saw a pillar of fire guiding their way and an entire sea parting before them, so they could cross on dry land. Yet, even after these powerful examples of God's might, when Moses goes up to the mountaintop to meet with God, it isn't long before they begin to fear and doubt. Did they feel abandoned, perhaps? 

Rather than trust in God and their experiences with Him, they quickly fall back upon the idolatrous ways of Egypt and have Aaron make them a golden calf to worship. The worship of an idol before God is one of the greatest sins of the Old Testament. It is the 2nd commandment. It is one of the two things God most often judges His people for, over and over again. Yet, here they were, once more falling into a familiar pattern.

This story is powerful because it rings true today, as well. How often do we feel abandoned and then turn from God in order to worship the gods of right now? We give up our spiritual disciplines, stop attending church, and instead find immediate but temporary satisfaction in the things of this world, whether it be our screens, our work, our addictions, our families, or even our politics. These gods of right now provide a false sense of security, a sense that we are doing something to take charge of our own destiny because we no longer trust it with God. In the end, however, they only leave us empty and unfulfilled.

Plumb may have made the phrase “God-Shaped Hole” popular with her song back in the 90s, but the phrase, or at least the concept of it, came from a philosopher in the 17^th century, Blaise Pascal, who said we all have an “infinite abyss” inside of us that “can only be filled with an infinite and immutable object; in other words, by God Himself.” 

Only God can fill the abyss inside us. 

He is, after all, the One who created us. We were designed to live in union with Him. A union that is broken by sin and idolatry. A brokenness that leaves us with a God-shaped hole.

Genesis 1:27 says God created us in His image. We are to be His image-bearers, carrying His presence around in the world. However, when we fill ourselves with other things, with the things of this world, we muddy up the image of God to such an extent He can no longer be seen. Then we fail to live out our purpose. We fail to worship God with our lives (Romans 12:1, 2).

Instead, our lives reflect the other things we worship. The idols in our lives. Idolatry is not just about golden calves. It's about anything we worship rather than God. A person. A passion. A place. A pursuit.

If we give our time and attention to it. If we let it influence and form us. If we listen to it, allowing it to be louder in our lives than God's still, quiet voice... it's become our idol. It's become our focus for worship.

We all worship something. Something gets our time, our devotion, our attention, our resources. 

What gets yours?

READ MORE... by picking up my newly released book, "Letters to the Jaded Evangelical: Finding Jesus in the Shards of Religion." Available in e-book and paperback format; free to read for Amazon KU subscribers.