What Does Your Heart Worship?

Worship.

Merriam-Webster defines it as “1 : to honor or reverence as a divine being or supernatural power 2 : to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion.” It lists REVERE as a synonym as meaning “to show devoted deferential honor to : regard as worthy of great honor.” It also lists ADORE as a synonym which means “1 : to worship or honor as a deity or as divine 2 : to regard with loving admiration and devotion 3 : to be very fond of.”

Praise.
(Goes hand in hand with worship because we naturally praise that which we value.)

Merriam-Webster defines it as “1 : to express a favorable judgment of 2 : to glorify (a god or saint) especially by the attribution of perfections,” and as “an expression of approval.”

So that which we worship we also praise and that which we praise, we also worship. People are worshipping things all day long; it’s impossible to worship nothing at all. The important question is: “What do you worship??”

Yesterday I wrote about my experience at the local Harvest Fest. (Prime example, candy worship.) Editors Note: That was last Halloween, Continue… Today I intended to write about Halloween, the actual October 31st holiday, itself. However, my friend Katie beat me to the punch and posted some really good information on her blog, so I’ll just link to her site and give a few additional opinions here. (Plus, I’ve been interrupted, had computer problems, and all manner of interferences and it’s now the end of the day instead of the beginning–go figure.)

I could sum up my overall opinion of Halloween in one word: Lost. I’ve really been impressed with the whole ‘lost-ness’ of everything about it. I don’t intend that in a harsh, negative, or mean way. It saddens me. It’s sorrowing. Since everything is always worshipping, the question is “what does it (Halloween) worship?” I think that we can all (Christians and non-Christians alike) agree that it isn’t God. I think that Halloween can be used to teach our children about God because I believe that we can use any circumstance to teach our children about God. However, there is nothing about Halloween that is God-honoring, God-centered, or God-worshipping. Additionally, some people occasionally refer to Halloween as a holiday that “used to be pagan.” I would argue that Halloween is still a pagan holiday. “Pagan” is described as “one who has little or no religion and who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods : an irreligious or hedonistic person.” Halloween is definitely sensual, materialistic, irreligious (well, at least to the exclusion of Witchcraft) and hedonistic. Devoid of God, full of the world, it is as pagan now as it was then. The bible is clear about how Christians are to treat and interract with pagan things:

Leviticus 19:31 “Do not turn to mediums or wizards; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God.”

Leviticus 20:6 “I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people.”

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a wizard or a necromancer, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this.”

Galatians 5:19-21 “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

As far as alternatives go, I am still praying, reading, and working that out in my head. But this I know: We do not celebrate Halloween, we do not participate in activities on that day (not even alternatives), we do not dress up as things dead/evil/sinful/scary, we do not trick or treat nor even say “trick-or-treat.” We do not do anything to give inaccurate impressions of what our hearts truly worship.

So the question I pose this Halloween is this:
What does your heart worship?

However, October 31st isn’t all bad… it’s also Reformation Day. Have a blessed day! =)

• Read Katie’s post from last year.
• Read Katie’s post from this year.