Every woman is created with a maternal instinct. With that said, I’ve seen women who do not have children treat their pets like children or they often live vicariously through other peoples’ families. Why? Because they have a maternal instinct that needs to be filled. The other thing people are created for is to worship. It’s true… every person on this earth is created with a God-sized hole that can only be filled by God. But if God does not occupy that place, then we’ll always be searching, looking, and longing for contentment. When we don’t worship God, then we will worship something else.
Paul addresses this to Titus. He says that as we live in this evil world, we need to live with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God. Wisdom comes from listening to God and doing what He says. Righteousness means that I seek to keep myself (my body, my thoughts, my life) pure, untainted by the world. It’s the third one that I want to hone in on today…. DEVOTION TO GOD. If we don’t live in devotion to God, then we live in devotion to something else… this is called idolatry. Sadly, it’s not just unbelievers who are idol worshipers… it’s also common among believers.
There are many things we put on the throne of our hearts: we worship the god of materialism. People just want more stuff, bigger houses, and a lifestyle like the rich and famous. We worship the god of pride. This is self-gratification. We spend all our energy building our careers, growing our ministries, and promoting ourselves and our accomplishments. Look at me. See what I’ve done. You can have this life too if you only pay this. We serve the god of addiction. We have become addicted to social media, our phones, food, shopping, entertainment. We even put healthy living on a pedestal. Don’t get me wrong… healthy living should be a priority, but it should never be worshiped.
In speaking about idols, the Psalmist writes in Psalm 115:5-7: “They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell. They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound.” In other words, the idols we often worship cannot do for us what God can. They’re powerless. It’s like chasing after the wind… believing these things can help us, but they never do. In fact, we’re left more destitute than ever. But when we fill up that hole with God and God alone, we will find what we’ve been looking for… contentment, peace, joy, and satisfaction.
Let’s take some time today to examine if there is any idol occupying the throne of our hearts and then push it off the throne and replace it with God. He is worthy of ALL our worship. Let this encourage you today.