ROMANS 1:25
“For they exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
Man, we can really worship the wrong things. Some of us worship our sports teams. As we enter into the Fall, football here in America is kicking off. It’s played by all ages and billions are spent to play and watch. Some people plan their whole lives around the game. Those same people wouldn’t put church on their schedule, though, or make time to pray and read God’s Word. Wrong worship!
Until I dug into this verse, I did not know the Greek word for “worshiped” was sebazomai, which only occurs here in this verse. It’s a different kind of word for worship. HELPS Word studies says it means, “to revere; be in awe by one’s own twisted definition of what deserves reverence.” It is clear that Paul is saying that even though these individuals are totally confused, they still have the desire to worship something. It’s just sad that it’s the wrong thing.
APPLICATION
So, my question for you today is – What are you worshipping? Well Carl, of course I am worshipping the Lord. What else would I worship? Oh really? Are you sure that is all? How about that job? Do work to live or live to work? So many of us can be so driven by our job ambitions that we put everything else on the back burner. Family time suffers. Church attendance is low on the priority list. What are we worshipping?
I receive a newsletter each month from “Voice of the Martyrs.” In it are stories of Christians under persecution for worshipping Jesus. They risk it all to serve the Lord. Many, if not most, have lost loved ones to terrorist who killed them just because they were Christians. And we can’t worship correctly? What a shame!
I want to ask you today to take a look at what you are worshipping? How much time are you spending with Jesus each day. Martin Luther once said, “I am so busy today I only have time to spend four hours in prayer.” How about you? We are told to worship in Spirit and in truth. Are we doing that?
Father, show me how to worship You in truth every day. Let me not waste time worshipping false gods in my life.
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A Moment In Time 
Carl I’m curious here. this word used in this passage is also in the middle voice. The majority of the NT it is used in the active voice. So the one doing the worshiping is seen to be actively choosing on their own to worship. But the middle voice always indicates the subject as receiving the action or reflecting it in some way. Could we take this to mean perhaps that the ‘worshipers’ were actually attempting to bring glory upon themselves by means of this worship ie worshiping for show – or am I stretching this a little too far?
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The middle voice certainly shows that this “worship” was their choice. Any choice we make without regard to God points to our self-centeredness, doesn’t it? Thanks for your comments.
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