What is your god worth?
Throughout the ages people have worshiped many things. Some worship ancestors, some worship the mountain gods, some worship ancient philosophers, some worship money, some worship beauty, some worship pleasure, some worship religion.
One thing you find true of gods is that they all come with a price tag. Some require you to pay them, some require offerings, some require sacrifices. There are those who beat and maim themselves for their gods. There are those who sacrifice friendships and family for their god of money. There are some who have secret gods called lust and pornography. There are those who serve violence. There are those who serve pride. They all come at a cost and they all have a price.
You have a god, and he has you!
Perhaps your god is success. This god is quite cruel to those who serve him. He requires long hours of work and labor and drags his servants along year after year with a promise that never comes to pass. He says to them “Just a little more and you will be successful”, but no matter the wealth, no matter the fame, the god of success will keep his whip on your back, driving you more and more.
Some have escaped the slavery of success only to claim to be the very thing that had enslaved them. They say “I am successful”, and by those very words fall into the authority and power of pride, an even more terrible god. When a person gives themselves to the god of pride, the first thing he does is blinds them. He can not let them know their true condition. Then he leads them up a high mountain path, whispering how great they are all the way. Eventually they reach the cliff of destruction where he laughs as he trips them and they fall into a deep pit.
Your god might be the god of vanity. This god is quite greedy and wants all that you have of worth. Those who serve this god are slaves to their eyes. They spend a day’s wage for a shiny grain of sand only to put it in their sandbox with the others that have lost their luster. Vanity then distracts their eyes and shows them someone whose grain of sand shines even more. Perhaps with a different color, perhaps a different shape. Vanity dares not let you see what you already have until he has traded all your worth for a few grains of sand. Then on your last day, he will show you how he has stolen all you have and laugh as you go into darkness.
There are many gods. Each has some appeal or temptation that leads you to them. You have a god. Is entertainment your God? Alcohol? Friendships? Family? Music? Self?
Perhaps Buddha is your god. Perhaps one of the millions of Hindu gods. They’re pretty cheap at $200 each, and you’ll have your own god. After all, it is much cheaper to bow down and worship a gold statue than having to go to the temples and pay to bow before their big statues. Perhaps you could just bow before a tree in your back yard like those who’s god is mother earth. That would be much cheaper.
You do have a god, you do serve your god, because your beliefs and actions reflect it. Even atheists have a god called Atheism and they are very religious in their beliefs. Just ask yourself… What do you give your time, money, and attention to the most? Behold your god.
As for me, I serve the one, true, and living God. He is the one and only God who created all things, including you. He is the rejected God, because so many have rejected him. Yet He is Truth. He spoke, and the heavens and earth came into existence. He told the planets to go here, and they did. He told the seas to go this far and no further, and they obeyed. He set the stars in the sky and formed you in your mother’s womb. He knows you fully, and even numbers the hairs on your head. His love and compassion is great and His favor endures a lifetime.
He is Love. He is Light. He is Holy. He is Life.
His name is Jesus.
And to know Him is worth more than I could ever earn in my lifetime. To serve him is an honor and a privilege. To live for Him is worth more than all the gold on the earth.
He is the God who was beaten by the very ones he created. His flesh was torn off his body as he was mocked and spat at by the very ones he breathed life into. He was hung on a cross and cursed by all. And yet he prayed, ‘Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.’
Friend, you know not what you do either. The very voice that whispers to you to come unto Jesus, do you hush away to serve other gods? Do you reject him as so many others do? Or will you come to him? He said “Come unto me… I will give you rest.”
What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul?
