What Do You Worship?

Psalm 115:8 says that we become what we worship. This means that who, what and how we worship edifies us into something. What we worship develops habits in us. St. Augustus developed this truth a little more as he said, “what you worship is what you love.” If we love the wrong things in public worship, we will develop habits of loving the wrong things in our daily lives. For example, if we love to express ourselves to God in worship, we become people who love the act of expressing worship to God. If we love entering in to experience God in worship, we become people who love the act of entering in to experience God. One problem with loving these things is that these acts of expression and experiencing God are a means to an end. They are ways of relating to God, but not God. Loving these things will edify us in the wrong ways.

One very important thing to keep us on the right track is to see that no matter what we love, we have habits and rituals that keep us connected to our loves. In Matthew 6:21, Jesus confirms this as He says, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Jesus points out that where you put your money, your heart will soon follow. This passage points out that our habits and our actions help form what we love. Humans are primarily creatures of habit who love people and things through these habits. This is how we were created by God. The key thing is that God created us to love Him as the center and foundation of everything else in life. We will only rightly love other people and other things once we come to love Him.

It is a common misconception that when it comes to loving God, religious habits are a bad thing. The reality is that habits are inescapable. The thing to be concerned with is discovering what or who your habits are centered on. Where do you spend your money, time or talents? The answers to these questions will show you what you love and worship.

Recent studies show that Americans religiously check their smart phones more than 150 times a day. This is a repeated ritual that forms desires and produces love for something. Are all of these smart phone habits centered on Christ?

Romans 12 tells us that we are to be transformed by God instead of being conformed to the rituals of the world.

How can we be transformed by God instead of the habits of the world?

Romans 12 says that to do this we need to present our bodies as a sacrifice to God on a daily basis. To be transformed by God, we have to be in the daily ritual of centering all of our habits on Jesus.

We tend to accept habits when they are in the areas of our life that are seen as less spiritual. For example, we have schedules that we repeat. We may watch a television program at the same time every day, but this mentality is often rejected when it comes to the worship of God and our spiritual life. When it comes to God, rituals and habits are often seen as burdensome. But this is simply not true. 1 John 5:1-4 sums all this up nicely:

5 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

In conclusion, take some time to reflect on what your habits are centered on. Whatever you discover during this time of reflection will reveal to you what or who you love.

Remember that what you love is what you worship, and what you worship is what you become. Here at WBC we want to become mature disciples of Jesus Christ, and to do this, Paul tells us, “Here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2 (The Message).