It’s been said that culture is a reflection of the religion of its society. Look around and you’ll know what we truly believe. If that’s true, window shopping in a large city is a great opportunity to get a pulse of the current state of religion in America.
This morning I walked by a Jimmy John’s in downtown Chicago and saw an advertisement asking, “Is it blasphemous to worship a sandwich?“
According to Harper’s Bible Dictionary (Harper & Row), blasphemy in the Bible means “showing contempt or a lack of reverence for God or something sacred, including claiming for oneself divine attributes by word or deed.” Regardless of the academic definition, it’s safe to state that worshipping a sandwich isn’t good theology.
Obviously Jimmy isn’t asking us to walk in and bow down before their subs. But is it possible that we essentially worship things just as ridiculous as an 8-inch Turkey Tom®?
Few of us would admit to being idol worshippers. And certainly there are people who think they don’t worship anything–that faith and worship are ancient ideas that are no longer relevant for enlightened people.
Give me a break.
We worship what we fear. If I lose a sense of peace when my bank account goes below a threshold, I’m likely guilty of worshipping the god of money. If I’m more obsessed about my current fantasy football scores than cracking open my Bible, shouldn’t that be telling me something? If I can’t pay attention to my wife and kids because I can’t tear my attention away from my work, am I not sacrificing offerings to the god of work? If I can’t walk by a mirror without checking how I look, it could be my idol is actually me (which was illustrated well in this shopping window picture to the right!).
Jesus reminds us that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21). What are you treasuring today?
For those who walk by the shopping window of your life today, what do they see? Regardless of what we say, they see a reflection of what we truly believe.
Great Words ! What we fear does truly reveal who or what we worship. Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller is a great book about Idolatry that brought me some heavy conviction. May we fear God, and reflect that to our culture!