Be The Fruit

Idolatry Thursday – What is your idol’s liturgy.

by Bill Blair on 19/06/08 at 4:15 am

Liturgy is defined as “a rite or body of rites prescribed for public worship” (Mer.-Websters).  Liturgy is simply the way you worship.  Every church has its own liturgy.  It could include a certain kind of music, Scripture reading, prayer, preaching, etc… 

At its essence, idolatry is worshipping something other than God.  Just as we have methods for worshipping God, we have methods or liturgy for worshipping idols as well.  The liturgy of idol worship includes all of the rituals, methods, means, and provisions that you make to allow yourself to worship the idol.

I remember watching an episode of  Intervention on A. & E., and the subject of the night was a young lady who was a bulimic.  In the interviews, her husband and family said that they thought that she probably purged 2-4 times a week.  When they interviewed the young lady, she said that she purged more than 2 -4 times per day.  You may find it hard to believe that her husband and family could be that far off, but the reason they were was because she had such an elaborate liturgy of worship.

The young lady shared with camera crew how she had her whole day planned around binging and purging.  There was a normal time that her family would leave the house which would allow her to hit the Shoney’s breakfast buffet.  The most elaborate thing she did was that when she would vomit, she would do into a large Ziploc bag and hide it in her closet.  Once a week, she would pack them up and haul them to a dumpster.  She explained how the Ziploc bag would seal the smell quickly, and how she could not always count on the toilet flushing properly, so using the Ziploc allowed her to purge without anyone know it.

For this young lady, eating was her god.  The comfort she would receive from the binge controlled her life.  In order to worship her god, she had to develop an elaborate liturgy so that she could worship without anyone knowing it.

Now this is an extreme example, but this type of thing happens anytime we have an idol.  Whatever it is we indulge in, we will figure out ways to do it, to worship it.  That is our liturgy.  As you seek to rid yourself of your idols, you will have to be sure to rid yourself of your liturgy, or methods of worship as well. 

The Apostle Paul tell us to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Rom. 13:14).  Our liturgy for idols makes provisions for our flesh so that we can worship them easier.  We need to rid ourselves of our provisions so we are less likely to sin.

Be watchful of those things that control you, and look for what you do to allow yourself to be consumed by them.

Until next time, put God first and “be the fruit.”