a garden hose stuck on full blast
“[T]o be human is to worship. We reflect God’s glory by our worship of Him, which means to hold Him as the object of our deepest desires and as worthy of our imitation. Worship is not just singing songs in church; it’s how we live our lives every moment of every day — every thought, word, deed, feeling, and desire. You worship what you live for, whatever is most worthy of your attention and devotion. It is what drives you at the core, and it flows from the essence of who you are. …
You can’t turn off worship. It’s your basic human wiring. To not worship is to not live. It’s like a garden hose stuck on full blast. You can aim it at the grass, the car, or the shrubs, but you cannot stop its flow.
Or you might imagine yourself as a sort of human billboard, always advertising what you find to be most important, valuable, worthy. What you pay attention to, how you spend your time, the way you work, how you relate to others in your life — all these things broadcast your heart’s worship, making visible and advertising what is most important to you. God created you to broadcast Him. …
[S]in corrupts worship. The result? Not a ceasing of worship, but a distortion of it. We never stop worshiping. Rather, in sin, we worship anything and everything other than God. We tend to exalt a substance, an experience, a person, or a dream to the level of a god. We define life by its attainment, and we feel like dying when it alludes us. It becomes bigger in our eyes than God Himself and takes His place in our lives. The Bible calls this “idolatry.” So addictions, for example, aren’t just drug, alcohol, food, or pornography problems. They are worship disorders. They are hearts bent on worshiping created things rather than the Creator.”
Mike Wilkerson, Redemption
