There are over 6 billion human beings in the world today. They are spread across continents, climate zones. time zones, countries, political parties, religious groups, jobs and careers, social groups. But there is one thing that each one of these 6 billion people do each day whether they know it our not. Some would acknowledge that they do it others deny that they do it. Most people, whether they say they do it or not, do not realize to what extent they do it. 6 billion people worship every day regardless of if they consider themselves “religious” or not. Our English word of worship is taken from the Anglo-Saxon word worthscipe meaning worth-ship. The majority of the people of the world are through there actions, words and lives giving worth to something or some one or multiple things or people.
Why is this? Why do humans all over the world spend their entire lives giving worth to things and people? I would say it is because we as human beings have a deep core need to be valued, sought after, and needed. We spend our entire lives through work, sports, relationships, art, literature, music and everything else we do trying to earn and achieve. We need for our lives to have meaning and purpose. Just wars have been fought not out of a desire to take land or possessions, but because one group of people tried to take away the worth and value out of another group of people. So is the only reason that 6 billion people worship every day because they need worth and value? Well that is a part of the issue but not the root.
There is a problem with our efforts to do things or be in community to have worth. The problem is fragility. Physical things can be destroyed and lost. Our creations (work, art, literature, music, ideas, philosophies, religions) can be devalued or not appreciated or rejected. Relationships with family, friends and community can be broken and destroyed. So why do we keep giving worth to them? Why do we seek worth for ourselves? Again I remind myself and you that we do this regardless of whether we realize it our not. Why do we do it every day?
There is something is us that cries out in us. Need me! Want me! Value me! Love me! Why? If we evolved because of time and chance and are just more evolved that other things what in evolution causes this difference from the animals?
This to me argues that nature, the universe, the earth, plants, animals and humans were intelligently designed. We have this desire for worth in us because we ourselves were designed that way. We have worth not because we can achieve it but only because we can receive it. But we cannot receive it from ourselves or others because that worth can be lost. So what or who can give the worth that we so powerfully need a the core of our being? We have seen that it cannot be something or someone here inside this existence be cause the worth they can give will fail. So it has to come from outside. It has to come from something and someone that can give worth that will not fail. How can that thing give worth that will not fail? The answer is that it has worth in and of itself that cannot be taken away or fail.
We do not have to give worth to it because it has worth whether we acknowledge it our not. We can worship it because it has worth and is worthy of being worshiped. It and only it can give us the worth we need. This sounds like an argument for religion. No religion is at it heart beliefs and practices set to govern culture and rule life. It is mankind’s way of way of trying to bind itself back to the thing that can give it worth. No, what this is an argument for is for relationship.
If existence was intelligently designed and human beings have a need for worth that cannot be fully satisfied with in existence, then we must be created to receive it from the thing that designed us who is outside existence. The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks “What is the chief end of man?” The answer? “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” We glorify God because, He is worthy with a worth that cannot be removed. We enjoy Him because we are in relationship to Him.
The problem with the relationship is that it is broken. Because it is broken, mankind has looked not back to God, but within himself, to others or to things to try to find worth. Why because the heart of the issue of broken relationship lies in our hearts. We broke the relationship. Mankind broke it to begin with and we break it with our actions each day.
Mankind cannot fix this relationship, just like we cannot get the worth we need from within this existence. Our worth has to come from outside and so does the mending of the relationship. Sin is a breaking of relationship with God by our disobedience to His law. His law was given to keep us safe, keep us in relationship with Him, and to keep our focus on the only One who values us in a way that will NEVER fail. We broke and break the law and are separated in relationship with Him. Try as hard and as long as we can we can never restore that relationship. Just like we can never get that perfect worth from this world. So God the Son came into this world so that, He could restore the relationship through the removal of problem of sin. Jesus lived the perfect life to give us an example of how to live. He died on the cross to remove the separation and break in relationship because of sin. He rose from the dead to give us eternal life now and perfected in eternity with God. We should be awed and humbled that our designer made us to be in relationship with Him and that, He chose to give us worth. He alone is worthy of our worship.
I will attempt to tie this back to the beginning. We all worship every day with what we do, with what we say, with what we believe, and with how we live in relationship with others and with God. There are several catalysts for the Lord bringing these thoughts up in me.
The first is that I was honored this week by my peers at work and have received congratulations from co-workers, family, and friends. It is humbling because I know that it is not me. I did nothing to deserve this. It is only because of what the Lord is doing in me that it is happening. I have been trying my best to give Him the glory because only He is worthy.
The second catalyst is this week. This week I have been surrounded by people bringing forth a play production of “The Robe.” Actors & Actresses (high school & middle school aged), tech crew, set designers, seamstresses, lighting technicians, videographers, photographers all coming together with the sole purpose of Glorifying God through the arts.
The last catalyst is the people all around me who glorify the Lord and proclaim His worth through their everyday lives. One is a builder who builds homes and builds up the people whom he builds for, who work for him and whom he serves. The second is a photographer who worships the Lord through her lens. She captures the beauty of God’s creation in nature and in people. She does not capture images she captures the souls God has put in people. The third is a man of whom, artist should be his title. He teaches others in the craft of acting by pointing them to God. He gives them history, background, emotions and drive, to worship the Lord in the art of acting. He captures the life God gives through painting and photography. All these people are just human. They fail, they falter, and they sin. But day by day they worship the Lord in all they do. Because of God’s grace through Jesus, they are in relationship with the only one who can give them the worth that they need but, do not deserve.
So my challenge to myself and to you is this. Who will you be? Will you be on of the 6 billion who worship everyday and in the end find only worth and value that can be shattered. Or will you be one who surrenders to the Lord, lives for Him, lives by Him, and worships Him because He is worthy. Then and only then will you have a worth and value that cannot be shattered because it is fully relying on God.
