DAILY READING
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REFLECTION
MISPLACED AFFECTIONS
by Katie Borden
Someone once shared the following imaginative exercise with me, and I think it’s a great example that gives us a taste for what today’s text is talking about:
Imagine that you are going to an incredible museum, where you are going to see some incredible works of art. Maybe you’re going to see the Mona Lisa, maybe you’ll see the David, perhaps you’re more of a Monet or Picasso person. Whatever the museum, imagine that you are there, in the midst of this incredible art, and someone walks in and starts looking at the museum labels—and they start raving about the labels! “Oh, have you seen how expertly this one is fastened to the wall?” “Wow, I love the font on this label!” “This explanation of the year that this piece was made is just exquisite!”
You would think that person was a little ridiculous, right?
People don’t go to an art museum to venerate or admire or worship the museum labels. And yet, this is so often what we do in our lives.
The things that were created by God, even as magnificent as they are, are not the point in and of themselves. Those creations were not meant to be worshiped, but rather to testify to the majesty and power and creativity and goodness of God, the Creator. Yet we often idolize the creations of God, the “works of his hands,” as the Psalmist says.
And this will get us into trouble every time.
Created things cannot handle our worship. Some of them will want you to think they can (and we have an entire consumer culture built on convincing you that they can), but nothing that is created can handle being the object of worship. And when we place those things on the altars of our hearts—even good things, like marriages, careers, or ministries—they crumble under the weight of our expectations, or we crumble when they don’t fill us and satisfy us.
God alone is the only rightful recipient of our worship.
So, what museum label are you praising right now? Ask God to help you reorient your heart toward appreciation for that “museum label” in your life, and allow it to point you to where your worship truly lies—the Artist of creation.
God, turn our worship away from all the other good things in our lives, and turn our eyes back to you and you alone. Amen.
PRAYER PRACTICE
God, turn our worship away from all the other good things in our lives, and turn our eyes back to you and you alone. Amen.
Love the art museum analogy! I appreciate your message.