You’re Going to Have to Serve Somebody

I recently watch a small portion of a music concert given by a young woman who is, at this point in her music career, "on top of the world" in acclaim by all forms of media. I watched the faces of her fans (a shortened form of fanatic) and the adoration, the vicarious thrill of basking in her presence, singing along, raising their hands, using their whole bodies in what can only be described as worship. I was witnessing the worship of a person whose music, lyrics and lifestyle seem to define what her worshippers wish their lives were more like.

Human beings are creatures who are inclined by design to worship. They tend to worship something greater than themselves, or someone they deem worthy of such attention. Ideas are worshipped, sacrificed to and followed as are certain movements, or even rock singers. The financial cost of a trans-Atlantic flight to watch this young lady sing and strut her stuff is lauded as a worthy expense to be in the presence of one they deem worthy of adoration.

The truth is that worship declares one's allegiance and one's loyalty. It reveals where the worshipper is attempting to draw life, meaning and purpose for daily existence, to define one's own worth. It is a matter of identification with someone, like this singer, who is worshipped as a means of trying to absorb some sense of vicarious worth as a fan.

Mere human beings were never meant to be worshipped. They cannot transform a heart, heal one's emotional wounds and devastating memories, they have no power to break addictions and shed light upon things living in the darkness of the human soul that keep a person deceived.

God alone is One of infinite worth, worthy of worship, surrender, trust, and commitment. He is One Who can be followed. He alone can lead a person into the wholeness of Life that is found nowhere else but in the Person of Jesus Christ. He alone can transform, heal, rescue, restore, lead life into the fullness of meaning and purpose, fulfillment as a human being. His authority and power and love are unassailably eternal. He is the only one worthy of our worship.

As Bob Dylan wrote, "Ya gotta serve somebody, Ya gotta serve somebody. Now it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody." It's how humans are wired.