what we worship, part 2

Someone offered a comment, or a question after my post on March 3rd.

Here is the post:
Ask yourself what you worship.  I hope the answer is God.   But if you look at how people act and how people talk, we all know that people worship other things than God.  Even good Christians worship things besides God.

Some Christians put their church before God.  Your church is good, but it is not God.
Some Christians put the bible before God.  The bible is great, but it is not God.
Some Christians put their doctrine before God.
On and on we can go.

It is easier for us to worship things like this because we can hold them and manage them.  They are finite and fit into our box.  God is not managed by us, nor does he fit into our box.

A good church points us to God.  The bible points us to God, but it is not God.  Doctrine should connect us with God.  All three are the means to the end, not the end.

They are not the moon, they are the finger that points at the moon.

Here was their comment:

How then DO we worship God if it's not by the ways that that point us to him? Did I miss the point?

So let me try again.  Churches, the bible, and doctrine are helpful in worship of course.  They point us to God, but they are not God.  Some people treat their church, the bible or doctrine as if they were God themselves.  In heaven I believe that there are three thrones.  One for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  There is no 4th throne for the church, the bible or our doctrines.  In fact, much of what we think about those things will be proven wrong when we die.

Do you carry pictures of your family?  I carry a picture of my wife in my wallet, but the picture is not my wife.  It is a reminder of my wife.  The picture points me to my wife.  If I settle with loving the picture, I have missed the point.

The church, the bible and doctrine are a picture of God.  They point us towards him.  But if we begin to think that these are the end, or the goal of our faith, then we have missed the point.

Use the church, the bible and doctrine to worship God, but worship God.  Think on him.  Be lost in him.  He is the goal of our faith.  Everything else just points us towards him.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.