Man and his gods

Psa 115:2-8
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
6 They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
7 They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8 Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.
(ESV)

People have differences. They differ in their physical appearances and also in their thinking. The chance for similarity in our thumbprints is one in 1 billion. Such is the diversity of mankind. Likewise, men have so many gods to worship. Though there are finite number of established religion, yet individuals differ in many way in their form of worship. They may even belong to same religion.  Some Hindus believe there are many gods, whereas few others say there is only one god. Yet they all will call themselves as Hindus. This type of diversity is found in all religions. I was wondering the reason why such diversity exists.

Men are inherently sinful. Instead of loving the one true God of the universe, they loved darkness. They want to please their sinful desires. Yet they want to appear as if they are worshipping gods. So they make their own gods. People, who want to be rich, worship lakshmi, god of fortune. I am just giving one example. As the psalmist says in verse 8, their gods represents their worldview, their thoughts and their motivations of life. Some are so evil that they know that their evil worldview will not allow them to worship god, so they call themselves as atheists (Rom 1:21-23). But they are also worshipping their atheistic beliefs like evolution etc.

There are people who call themselves Christians, yet in their actions there isn't much difference from their counterparts. Some Christian teachers preach that God knows only to bless and they will get worldly blessing if they become Christians. So people who want to become rich will start worshipping their jesus.

There are others, especially among Christian doctors who say that the duty of a Christian doctor is to be a medical missionary and practice health care in the areas of need. They tend to justify their worldview by saying Jesus healed the sick and delivered people from sickness.

There are Christians who say that we should be perfect in our profession and we should excel in our career even at the expense of our family and personal life. They justify their worldview by saying God is perfect.

Like how the Psalmist says, their idolatry is due to their sinful desires. They have become like their gods because their thoughts are like them. If we truly want to worship God, then instead of us creating a god out of our imaginations, we should be objectively knowing who that God is. The only way from which we can know about God is through Scripture. If we believe in some other way, if we don't believe in all the attributes of God described in scripture, then we are not worshiping the God of Scripture. We may use the words 'Jesus', 'YAHWEH' etc but those words doesn't mean the one true God, if we don't know the attributes of Him.

Num 14:18
18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation. ’
(ESV)

Let us examine ourselves whether we are worshipping God or not. If not, search for God from Scriptures. Even famous Christian preachers can be wrong and can be worshiping a false Jesus. Your salvation is at stake if you worship a god who is not of Bible. Turn to Scripture to know God and repent. May God bless you all.

If you have liked this, you can also read What is the greatest need of Man? and What is Freedom?