Match Made in Heaven?

Scripture Passage that caught my attention today: Revelation 9:20 The rest of humankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands or give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.

Observation: It’s amazing what we as humans are sometimes wont to ‘worship.’

Application: Scripture is critical of people who worship ‘objects’ objects rather than the living God. In fact, just to make sure we get the point, in the Gospel of John we are told that the Word of God became flesh (in Jesus) and lived among us. Scripture, therefore, draws/points to a God who is alive, rather than some kind of human creation. Come to think of it, in Genesis Scripture speaks of God fashioning humans from the dust of the ground, rather than the other way around.

Most puzzling in all of this is humanity’s persistence at worshipping creations of our own making. In the verse above, even with destruction all around, humanity still doggedly clung to their own ‘objects’ of worship rather than to the living God.

Honestly, I’m not sure we’re any more insightful all these years later. Our ‘objects’ of worship may have become a bit more sophisticated over the years, but our base inclination to worship that which is not worthy of worship has hardly abated.

Thankfully, there are those moments when we are drawn back to the living water. There are those times when we look at ourselves and all around and realize that seemingly neither ourselves or the creations we have conjured up are ‘worthy’ to open the scroll. And then, perhaps, we are struck by the presence of God through Jesus. Perhaps then we see in the crucified One a worth that far surpasses anything or anyone else we have ever known. Even more striking, the crucifixion itself stands as proof positive that, in Christ’s eyes, we are of more value than anything or anyone he has ever known. It’s sort of like a match made in heaven come to earth.

Prayer: Lord, we can only ponder in amazement at the love you have for us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Readings today included: Revelation 5-9)