“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
― C.S. Lewis

I submit to you that human beings are created with a need to worship that is as real and fundamental as the need for food, water and air.  It’s because we’re made in the image of God — because we have souls and all that goes with them — that we crave transcendence.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He has risen, just as He said.”

Our corrupted state makes this yearning even more intense.  The apparent randomness of life deepens in us the desire to connect with One who is bigger than we are, and who is able to change our circumstances, or at the very worst to redeem them.  We can take comfort in the knowledge that the world is in loving and all-powerful hands.

But even if you don’t worship this God, or any name-brand god, you worship something.  It could be money, sex, power, approval, your hair, your physique, your reputation, your kids or your career.  You know you worship whatever it is this way:  It is where your thoughts, your time and your money go.  You make decisions around it, because it holds the place of preeminence in your life.  Sound familiar?  As Bob Dylan sang, “You gotta serve somebody.”

Skeptics, Sign In

If you question whether mankind is made for worship, consider that the God of the Bible — that is, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — takes this as a given.  When God gave the law to Moses, He began with the ten commandments.  If you’re familiar with them, you’ll notice that the first four commandments deal with man’s obligations toward God.  Here are the relevant verses from Exodus, chapter 20:

And God spoke all these words:

Note that the Creator is mindful that His creatures are going to worship something — he provides His law to instruct fallible people to maintain their focus and worship Him exclusively.  We also see in the law the practical rationale and the benefits of obeying the law of God.

The object of our worship

If we’re in agreement that man is a worshipping creature, then we must next determine what is or should be worthy of our reverence and our obedience.  A common mistake I’ve observed — and made in the past myself — is to try to encourage people to worship God without establishing context.  If God is one deity among many, he might as well be another brand of toothpaste on the drugstore shelf — and deserving of about the same loyalty.

Similarly, beware of slapping a label on some collection of personal preferences and calling it “God.”  That’s like your mom making a gingerbread man and calling it by your name.

It’s much easier to worship God when you know Him, and it is easier to bow before His majesty when you’re convinced of His supremacy.  Otherwise, I’d offer what I imagine to be a helpful suggestion, to which you’d reply with a shrug and a “Says you.”

Let me introduce you

If the God of the Bible is the one true and living God, He would have an absolute claim on our devotion and our worship.  The Bible speaks of God as the creator of everything that exists.  The creator of a thing is usually the owner of that thing, and the owner is uniquely qualified to evaluate — to judge — his work.  Similarly, if the owner doesn’t share ownership, he alone is sovereign over his creation.  This means his preferences and his will are law.

And if the Creator’s character and reputation are of perfect love and perfect justice, He would be correct and consistent to punish wrongdoing.

So in the pages of scripture we meet God, the creator of the cosmos — one God in three persons — who is infinite, personal, loving and just.  He made mankind in His image and likeness and granted them the freedom to love Him or not, obey Him or not. Our original parents, Adam and Eve, violated God’s one and only rule, corrupting them and the whole of God’s creation.  Every woe in c=the world traces its origin to this tragic exercise of free will.

Rather than abandoning these rebels to their just punishment, God instead set in motion a plan of redemption.  First he called out a people to Himself.  He made a covenant with them to be their God forever.  He gave them His law to instruct them, but also to prove that not one of them was good enough often enough to earn God’s favor. The standard is 100% perfection.  No human being could pull that off.

The plan culminated in God’s taking on human flesh and living a perfect sin-free life, fulfilling the law of God, and ultimately satisfying the claims of divine justice.  Jesus, the only son of God, was fully God and fully human — and only He was able to make a satisfactory payment in full for the sins of all mankind by dying in our place — a substitutionary atonement.

Spoiler alert

The story of this God is remarkable, but it gets even better.  Because three days after Jesus died on the cross, he resurrected and appeared to hundreds of witnesses.  Since death was a consequence of rebellion against God, Jesus’ resurrection demonstrates his mastery over death – and proves his authority to forgive sins.  That is a God who is worthy of our worship!

In early 21st century America, we like stories about rascals who beat the system.  We may shake our heads and marvel at their gall, but we don’t necessarily admire them or want to be like them.  Unlike these types of characters, Jesus submitted to the will of God the Father, and endured the humiliation, the torture, the agony and the separation from God that our sins deserved.  He went through it, rather than around it — and all because He loves you.  Now I want to encourage you to worship Him.

Happy Easter!  He is risen!

So how about you?  In what ways are you in need of a spiritual tune up?  How do you intend to worship God this Easter?  Add your comments below.