Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only’.” Luke 4v8
Those of us who are trusting in our Lord Jesus Christ alone for our salvation, and are seeking to live for Him in the power of His Holy Spirit during these testing Covid 19 days, will be in no doubt as to who is worthy of our worship . Jesus confirmed it in the verse quoted above.
What about those we are seeking to reach with the good news of the gospel? They may be members of our family, friends, work colleagues, neighbours – the list is endless. Who or what do they currently worship? Who or what demands their attention?
The suffix – LATRY – comes from the Greek and simply means “the worship of”, so, for example, the word IDOLATRY means the worship of idols.
Here is a list, in no particular order, of people and things that can easily become the focus of worship, because people refuse to worship the one true God:
HEORTOLATRY: the worship of HOLIDAYS
ANTHROPOLATRY: the worship of HUMAN BEINGS
DENDROLATRY: the worship of TREES
AUTOLATRY: the worship of SELF
BARDOLATRY: the worship of WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
ECCLESIOLATRY: the worship of CHURCH TRADITION AND FORM
GASTROLATRY: the worship of FOOD
GAMIDOLATRY: the worship of MARRIAGE
PARTHENOLATRY: the worship of THE VIRGIN MARY
PATRIOLATRY: the worship of ONE’S NATIVE COUNTRY
PAPOLATRY: the worship of THE POPE
ICONOLATRY: the worship of IMAGES
PLUTOLATRY: the worship of WEALTH/LEISURE
NEOLATRY: the worship of NOVELTY/NEW IDEAS
STAUROLATRY: the worship of A CRUCIFIX
IDEOLATRY: the worship of IDEAS
HEIROLATRY: the worship of SACRED THINGS/PLACES
BIBLIOLATRY: the worship of THE BIBLE
PHYSIOLATRY: the worship of NATURE
ASTROLATRY: the worship of STARS
FAMILOLATRY: the worship of FAMILY
As we pray for people in our sphere of influence to be saved from all these forms of false worship and more, we need also to pray for ourselves as Christians that we may also be protected from any tendency to fall into the trap of allowing any of these influences to gain a foothold in our lives.
Exodus 20v5 reminds us that “… I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God.”
If we are not worshipping the one true God, it stands to reason that we are worshipping someone else or something else.
Mark
Paul Beesley says
A whole lot of different things people worship other than the one true God. A timely warning. Thank you Mark (but I will be careful not to fall into Markolatry!