Misplaced

This verse punched me this morning:

He [Hezekiah] … broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it.

2 Kings 18:4 (NIV)

wow, silly Israelites.  (be honest, you know you’ve thought that when reading the Bible.  We’d never do the stuff “they” do…)

Yet, how easy it is for us to misplace our worship…even when “good” things are involved.

We focus on a song, a place, a person, a building, a sermon, a feeling, a ministry, a cause, etc. and the way they impacted, made, or make us feel…

… instead of focusing on God.

We assign value to and worship our personal or church-created “bronze snakes” rather than our awesome, holy, and forever-worthy God.

Sure, the bronze snake served a purpose for the Israelites – as do our “bronze snakes”; but, if they become the object or focus of worship, we, in turn, become idol worshipers rather than God worshipers.

This misplacement may even stem from an incorrect or limited view of what worshiping God involves or really looks like.  Sadly, many have relegated worship to something one does on a Sunday and/or a midweek night that involves a song or two.

In truth, true worship of God is everything about us: word, deed, thought, all we are.

Worship is a “life” thing not a “time-and-place” thing:

“…God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.”

Romans 12:1 [The Message]

“Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.”

Colossians 3:17 [The Message]

…forgive us merciful God for misplacing our worship and focusing on the bronze snakes in our lives instead of You!