Is God's Desire for Worship Ego Driven?
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April 3
Is God's Desire for Worship Ego Driven?
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18)
According to Strong's dictionary, this word "beholding" means "to mirror oneself" and "to see reflected". We are changed into God's likeness by beholding who He truly is. David taught this same truth in the psalms when he wrote, "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness" (Psalm 17:15). To worship God is to behold Him and be changed into His likeness (Psalm 27:4).
God is the highest person in the entire universe. There is no one greater than Him. To worship Him is to come up to His level. On the other hand, when we worship anything lower than God, we come down to the level of this object and become debased (Rom. 1:23-28; Acts 7:42, 43). Sin is centered around the worship of things lower than God that in the long run debase and destroy us.
God knows that He is the greatest and highest in the universe and desires man to excel to great heights as well. God knows that for man, who was created in His image and likeness, to worship anyone or anything else is to go far lower than His created potential. An example of this debasement is found in Jeroboam's introduction of idolatry to Israel:
Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt (1 Kings 12:28)
It is easy to tell that Satan is behind this since Jeroboam does the exact same thing that Israel was condemned for in the wilderness (Ex. 32:4-8). This was part of the "beholding" that they did (Psalm 106:19-21) which made Israel become exactly like the images that they worshipped (Hosea 4:16-17). Concerning those who make idols, David said, "They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them" (Psalm 115:8).
Therefore, God's desire for our worship is not ego driven. It is love driven. He knows very well that we become what we worship because worship is beholding. If we worship Him then we behold Him and become like Him. If we worship anything lower than Him we become debased. He loves us and wants the best for us. He is the best that we can have.
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Originally Posted by curly sue
