Burned-Out Ashes

Do you have a role model; someone you respect, someone you aspire to be like? Is this person someone you that you interact with on a regular basis? Or is it someone afar, someone who conducts their life in such a fashion as to be respected?

We all have role models, and role models all have one thing in common. At some point, those people will let us down, they will disappoint us. They will do or say something that causes you, and others, to pause and question whether that person is worthy to be emulated any longer. One of my role models was the director of the ministry school I attended. He was greatly respected by many people, including me. He regularly reminded us that we needed to live a life beyond reproach.  You can imagine my shock and sadness when I learned a few years later that he had engaged in an extramarital sexual relationship with a woman whom he was counseling.

While it is okay to have role models, we must never allow that adoration to turn in idolization. To idolize is to love or admire to excess, simply put, to worship. Having role models often helps us to aspire to be better versions of ourselves. But idolizing someone (or something) often causes us to lose sight of reality, and it the end, one result always happens, we get hurt and we hurt others. What is left is simply a pile of burned-out ashes.  

We not only worship people, we also worship things as well. What things in your life are central to your focus? We all worship someone or something. Where do you spend your time and money? That might be an indicator of what you worship. Just look around, do you see people worshipping money, sex, fame, more education, substances, family, just to name a few? And yes, even churches and church leaders get caught up in worshipping the wrong things from time to time.    

We are told in Scripture to worship God and God alone – above all else! The First Commandment (Exodus 20:3) tells us: “You should have no other gods before me.” And the second (v.4) gives us this: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness, of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth.” 

Why do we worship God? Is He needy, wanting to always be flattered? Does His ego need constant stroking? There are certain people who might fall into this category, but not so with God. We don’t even worship Him simply because He commands it. We worship God because He is exceedingly worthy of our worship. He is beautiful and generous and ever-loving like none other. Praise and worship is (should be) our natural and spontaneous response. Read 1 Chronicles 16:25-29, Psalm 145:1-3, Revelation 4:8-11.

Worshipping the One who created you, who made you in Him image, is part of your created purpose (Isaiah 43:7, 21). Gratitude and worship, regardless of your current circumstances, has a powerful transforming effect on your heart.

Near the end of the Bible, as John looked up into heaven, he recorded what we saw and heard – “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.” (To read this is context, see Revelation, all of chapter 5.)

So today I ask, who or what are you worshipping that will eventually leave you empty? Worshipping God will never leave you in a pile of burned-out ashes!

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