Worship 礼拝・崇拝
What do you worship?
I hope you would say God in Christ Jesus. There is no one else and nothing else worthy of all of our praise. As the One who made everything we see, the God of the Bible has proven Himself through all that He has made. Romans 1 (in the Bible) says that we humans are all without an excuse for not knowing Him! We all see the great beauty and design in all that He has made. But apart from His mercy and help, we are blinded by our sin and do not seek Him. Instead, we want to do our own thing and so we make idols. The human heart is an idol factory.
In Japan, it is easy to see stone idols. These are idols everywhere, even in the parks and on the roadsides. But even large trees and waterfalls are worshiped here. The waterfall in this picture has been worshipped for over 1300 years! Why? Because in our sin we humans worship the creation rather than the Creator, just as Romans 1 says. It is sad, but we all do it! In America, we tend to worship ourselves, other people, and money more than anything else. Anything and anyone can become an idol if it takes first place in our hearts and lives.
Who can rescue us all from such blinding sin? Because of sin, we are heading for an eternity separated from our Creator and all of His goodness. Only our Creator God can save, and He chose to come to this Earth to save us from our sin and idol worship. God became a man in Christ in order to do away with our rebellious sin once and for all. By His death on the cross, He paid for the punishment for our sin which is death and hell. By His resurrection, He gives us a new life forever that can begin today by simple faith in Christ. Jesus begins to help us to see, for the first time, just how wonderful He is. When we begin to know our God we begin to love Him. Then we desire to worship Him - not because we are scared of Him or because we are trying to earn something from Him. We worship Him because we truly love Him. He loved us and forgave us so that we could love Him too. He is our Father who came to us in order to set us free from sin and bring us into His own family. Someday all who have repented of their sin and received Christ as their Savior and Lord will be with Him in paradise forever!
