Wired for Worship

If you are a baby-boomer like me then you may recognize who this is in the image. It is G'Kar from the 1993 sci-fi television series Babylon 5. He is the Ambassador of Narn, a primitive world conquered by the fictional Centauri race. After a spiritual awakening, G’Kar writes a holy book called “The Book of G’Kar” and is worshipped as a Messianic figure by the Narn people. The science fiction writers who created this character recognized the fact that their TV audience would relate to an alien race needing to worship someone or something.

It is evident that human beings value worship highly since almost every culture on earth participates in some form of it. I find it ironic that the universal desire of the human heart to love and be loved is the same heart that is described as “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” (Jeremiah 17:9)

I believe that true worship of the God of the Bible can reconcile these conflicting desires in the human heart. God’s Word in the Bible reveals the true nature of mankind by not glossing over their glaring faults. His Word shows how true repentance combined with God’s Grace in the form of Jesus Christ is the reconciling factor.

Worship is defined as submission to a person, thing, or deity and is expressed in reverence and adoration of the object of worship. The object of a person’s worship depends on what the person truly values and desires. It is easy to see who or what a person really worships by looking at their checkbook, credit cards, and calendar.

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) was a French mathematician and philosopher who wrote the book "Pensee" in which he defended the Christian faith. This wonderful quote from that book validates the concept that every person has a "God-Shaped Hole" inside their soul, thus inducing the desire to worship God to have that hole filled.

“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.” [1]

St. Augustine said: "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." These verses in the Bible speak of the requirement of mankind to worship God: “Give the Lord the glory that is due to his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness,” (Psalm 29:2) and  “But the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, because that's the kind of worshipers the Father wants." (John 4:23-24)

"People may ask: “What’s in it for me if I take the time to go to Church and worship the God of the Bible?” I can only speak for myself, but these are some of the benefits that I get out of worshipping my Heavenly Father in my local Church:

 Being able to express my gratitude to God in a free country for all the blessings I’ve received in the form of good health, good marriage, good   friends, good food, etc.
 Getting an inner assurance that the God of the Universe loves me and feeling assured that He will take care of me (inner security).
 Knowing that with my relationship with Jesus Christ guarantees me an eternal home in Heaven.
 Knowing that my prayers will be answered by God in His time and in His way (the answer being yes, no, or wait).
In the past I have worshipped other things and made idols out of other people such as boyfriends, money, and a successful image, but none of those people and things provided me the great satisfaction that I receive daily from worshipping the God of the Bible.

References:

God-Shaped Hole - Blaise Pascal, Pensées VII (425)