Daily Devotions
True Worship Versus Idolatry
Title: True Worship Versus Idolatry
Reading for May 10: 2 Chronicles 8-11
For the Levites left their common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons cast them out from serving as priests of the Lord, and he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat idols and for the calves that he had made. And those who had set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their fathers.
2 Chronicles 11:14-16
True worship and idolatry could not be more different.
- True worship exalts the Creator, while idolatry exalts the creation.
- True worship recognizes our place as the creation and God as Creator, while idolatry makes us creator.
- True worship molds and shapes us into the image of God, while idolatry reverses this process so that we mold and shape the object of our worship (an idol made after our image and our likeness).
- True worship naturally springs from an open heart and a willing mind that is free of selfishness and pride, while idolatry closes the mind and hardens the heart because idolatry is fundamentally about supporting our own needs and ego.
Father, help us to see the idols in our heart. Help us to root out all selfishness and pride that would make us the center. Give us a clear vision so we might see your transcendent holiness. Make us to know our place. Mold and shape us into your image as we reverently bow our hearts before you in true worship.
