Worship Gone Wrong

Finding security in oneself is a tricky thing to do. As humans, we are always falling down. When I look back on some of my experiences both in my personal life, and as someone who mentors and counsels others, I see a theme throughout humanity: we try to rely solely on ourselves and we never have enough strength, enough forgiveness, and ultimately we are always slaves to our own devices.

As a psychology student, I love the song Hotel California. It states, “We are all just prisoners here, of our own device.”  The human mind needs something to worship, something to hold onto, something to cling to as our own identity that is bigger than just ourselves.

This is where Jesus comes in.

When people worship something other than God, their Heavenly creator, things get muddled quickly. Let’s walk through a few examples.

I dealt with a girl who was in an abusive relationship. She knew she had to turn to someone for help, but refused to admit she was in an abusive relationship.

I walked into the room where I met her. She had a bruise covering her one eye, and she was rubbing her left hand. I knew she was not well, and I could immediately tell she was dealing with an abusive relationship. After we got past the small talk of introductions, I asked her what was going on.

She replied, “Oh, everything is just fine. Alex and I are doing really well.”  She forced a smile. She refused to admit to the fact that she was a slave to this relationship.

After hours of emergency counseling at midnight, she began to admit perhaps their relationship had suffered some issues. She asked if I would talk to the boyfriend as well. When I did, he showed no remorse whatsoever, and no care that things were not well.

After many sessions, we finally got to the point: the boyfriend struggled with anger issues, and sometimes took things out on her. She began to see there was a deeper issue here, and that she was definitely afraid and needed help. As soon as we began to delve deeper into some of her issues, such as lack of feeling loved and issues with her family, she stopped coming to see me. It was too painful for her to bear the fact that she was a slave to love with this boy in the worst way. She did not have enough strength to leave the relationship. Additionally, she did not have Jesus.

There are many things we become attached to and find our self worth in. For example, money, drugs, possessions, status, beauty, love, and family. Some of those can be wonderful things; however, if we put them first, before God, we become a slave to them.

Many secular people believe Christians are "slaves" to God. This is the opposite of the truth. Only in this kind of right relationship with God can you truly be free. It is when we fall in love with Jesus, and put Jesus first in our lives, that we are freed from the slavery of this world.

I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide open, spacious life. - 2 Corinth. 6:11