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As a baseball umpire, I watched a young high school
kid come to bat. He reached inside his jersey and pulled out a
cross that he wore on a chain around his neck. He looked silently
at the cross then kissed it. I can't help but wonder if he worships
that cross, or the man who died on one so many years ago.
The little silver cross is powerless. It can't
save, has no real power to guide him through life's journeys.
The polished silver has not one hint of blood on it. There is
no life in that cross, just a cold metallic thing. As the Lord
asked Habakkuk, "What profit is the image, that its maker
should carve it, The molded image, a teacher of lies, That the
maker of its mold should trust in it, To make mute idols"
(Hab.2:18). What did the Chaldeans gain from their idol worship?
The "voice" of the idol comes from its maker. God called
these "mute idols," for in them was no voice, no power.
God alone is worthy of our praise!
The apostle John hears an angelic rebuke when
once he fell at its feet and worshiped. "See that you
do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren
the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship
God" (Rev. 22:10). Not even the angels are to be the
object of our adoration.
Matthew Henry writes, "praising God for what
we have, is praying for what is yet further to be done for us".[i]
There is no idol that we can praise and worship that can do any
thing "further" for us. Not the "Holy Grail,"
the "Shroud of Turin," not the nails that pierced that
precious skin, not a little silver cross. The single object of
our worship is to be God. Not an image of God painted by some
master and hanging in a fancy museum, but the living one true
God.
David said in 2 Samuel 22:4, "I will call
upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised." Calling
upon God is how we are to live. Worshiping only him. God told
Habakkuk, "the just shall live by his faith"
(Hab. 2:4). Not faith in dumb idols, but faith in the one true
God who is able to save. Even in Heaven the only one worthy is
the Lamb, slain at the foundation. Hebrews 3:3 tell us, "For
this One (JESUS) has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses,
inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house."
He is the builder of all things. "You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created" (Rev. 4:11)
That little silver cross can be melted down into
a liquid and be shaped into any image, be it a Buddha or a calf
or whatever it's earthly maker wants it to be. One day, that cross
will be destroyed and pass away. "But the day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass
away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent
heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned
up" (2Peter 3:10). The cross of Calvary will never perish.
The One who died on that cross sits at the right hand of the Father.
Only in him is there salvation.
Only He is worthy of praise and worship. Do you
worship a little silver cross and it's earthly craftsman? Or,
do you worship the Man who died on an old rugged cross on that
hill far away and now sits at the right hand of our Heavenly craftsman?
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[i] Henry, Matthew. Commentary on the Whole Bible (1712). Available Online. http://www.ccel.org/h/henry/mhc2/MHC00000.HTM. Public Domain.
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