The world presents us with countless opportunities. Among them, is the opportunity to elevate people we admire to lofty heights. This can be actors, athletes, authors, business leaders, mentors, politicians, and pastors.
This occurs because there has, and will always be, a desire to be near people of note. This leads many to become so enamored with the people they wish to be near they lose all sense of themselves.
We see this in numerous ways among people who are very insecure and those who consider themselves to be self-assured. In each case, the desire to be near the people they admire creates a willingness to be subservient and even submissive.
“People worship” can be the result. The irony is, when pointed out and confronted, denial would most likely be the response.
Though nothing new, this type of adulation will no doubt continue just has it has in the past. The question is, why do we all find ourselves drawn to certain people and will we admit we are? For most, the answer may be something as simple as admiration or as complex as filling a personal need to belong.
Either way, “people worship” is both dangerous and destructive. This is true because all people, even the ones we may choose to worship, are flawed and subject to following and worshipping people themselves.
Nevertheless, “people worship” will continue, because, it is a human condition, and it is incurable.
If true, the question is, what can we do about our willingness to place people on a pedestal and see them as if they were so much more than we are or can ever become?
We can start by realizing they are not and realize our ability to limit what we can become is a tendency we must accept and work to overcome.
One way is to start believing we are more than we think we are. This requires us to see there are no people worth worshipping and to understand, when we worship someone else, we diminish ourselves.
Sure, there are more intelligent, relational, attractive, and gregarious people than we may be, but we are more than they can be in our own right. This is true because we are all unique and gifted to live out God’s calling in our lives.
The problem is, this can only happen if we begin to see the same value in ourselves, we see in those we look up to and admire.
Is there anything wrong with wanting to be near or like someone else? I suppose not, until it becomes an act of worship.
You see, we all have been called to worship no one other than the Lord. This is because He is the only one worth and deserving of worship. “People worship” allows us to see people as our god and here is where disappointment and heartache reside.
Ask yourself if you have someone in your life you are enamored with; to the point where you are worshipping them? If answering these questions upsets you or you find it difficult to provide an answer, I will say you do and probably are. The difficulty comes as we realize, these people are not worth worshipping.
Remember, knowing we may be participating in “people worship” and admitting it are two completely different things. Nevertheless, in the end we all are worshipping someone.
I just hope it is the One who is worthy of our Worship!
Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other gods before me”.
