“8I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, 9but he said to me, ‘You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.’” — Revelation 22:8-9 (ESV)
How easy is it to worship other things or entities based on what we perceive is their benevolence to me? I have received from others and at times I feel as though I owe them worship as a provider.
I want to put this out there, although I am not expressing an opinion one way or another, but think of government entities and their “giving” to me as a citizen of their domain. The entity provides that which is set forth of in the documents approved by the people. They are only performing as the will of the people have dictated as being a part of their role. In some cases there has been overreach as relates to that role and in others there has been a perceived shortcoming. In either case, we the people, in a lot of cases, have decided that they are to be worshiped for their “giving”. This is clearly stated as not what should be as you see in verse 9 above.
John literally fell for the worship of other entities than God as he “fell down to worship at the feet of the angel”. He was carrying out the worship of the messenger as opposed to the one, God, who sent the message. John fell trap to the idea of worshiping the one simply doing the will of the true authority, God. He was quickly corrected and shown the right path, “Worship God”.
I have to remember to look at situations and find the truth in them to be sure that I am placing my worship where it truly belongs and not at the feet of the one who brings me the information. I have to remember that pastors, prophets, angels, authority figures, news outlets, or any other purveyor of information to me are just the messengers and that the message itself comes from God and that is where my worship is to directed.
When you hear of news, where do you direct your worship? Are you in the group that falls or bows down to the messenger as the one providing? What if you were to direct you worship to God as the ultimate provider and simply respected the purveyor of the message?
Trevor's Thoughts 