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Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake Religion
Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake Religion
Helen's favorite dessert was Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake. When her new friend, Alicia, had a birthday coming up, Helen decided to make that cake for her party. Helen figured that, since she liked the cake, Alicia would too.
A few days before the party, Helen was surprised to learn Alicia was allergic to raspberries, hated chocolate, and was lactose intolerant. Yet, instead of switching to another dessert, Helen stubbornly stuck to her plan. She didn't care that Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake would make her friend seriously sick!
This is an imaginary story. Nobody in their right mind would do that. Ironically, however, lots of people do—in a spiritual sense.
Many churches totally ignore God's revealed pattern of congregational worship and make up their own methods of worship. The thinking is, “We like worshiping God this way, therefore God will surely like it too.” This was the mindset of the nation of Israel during the period of the Judges.
The book of Judges says, “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (17:6; 21:25). As a result of the people doing whatever they wanted, their worship was a complete mockery. Their only guiding factor was their imagination. As long as their worship contained a modicum of truth, they were satisfied.
For example, in Judges 17 and 18 an Israelite named Micah made an ephod and a graven image and consecrated one of his sons to be his own personal priest. These two men were mixing idolatry with a perverted form of worship to Jehovah. Later on, Micah hired a Levite named Jonathan to be his new priest in place of his son. Eventually, Jonathan became the priest of the entire tribe of Dan and aided the Danites in their worship of Micah’s graven image (which they stole).
The Israelites were essentially giving God Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake. They had no interest in the Lord’s desires, only their own. They wanted tasty religion, not true religion.
Unfortunately, the religious landscape today isn’t much different than it was in the days of the Judges. Self-appointed priests, worship of images, corruption, greed, sanctioned immorality—all of that and more is rampant among many churches that claim to serve God. And He is absolutely disgusted with it!
Jesus said of the Pharisees, "They worship Me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules (Matthew 15:9). Solomon warned, "Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words, or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar" (Proverbs 30:5-6).
Let’s be careful to offer to God exactly the kind of worship He has prescribed in His Word, regardless of what we might prefer! Our ultimate desire must be to please Him, not ourselves.
