Misplacement

What do you desire? Who do you love? What makes you tick? How you answer these questions, reveals the true foundation of your heart. Where there is affection, there is attention. By design, the primary object of our affection controls our mind, our thought life and subsequent actions. It all begins in the heart primarily in the form of something we know as worship.

So many times we “church” folks make worship out to be something that it’s not. Inverting the direction of worship causes us to be misaligned. Whenever we make worship to be about “us” or “our preferences” or “our emotions/feelings” instead of about God, we end up miserable.

Instead of misdirecting our primary worship towards other humans, organizations, things, music, styles, or any other terminal object, we should challenge ourselves to take a new view of what God created us to be. We were created to worship God. We were designed to desire God. We were made in His image.

Since God created us, its not by chance that misdirected worship leads us down a dead-end path. Placing our main focus on anything other than God, leaves us feeling empty, confused and tired.

Check out Revelation 2:1-7. The church in Ephesus was obviously doing some good stuff, but they had misplaced their affection. They did some really good things. They worked hard, didn’t get tired, didn’t quit, didn’t tolerate wickedness. They exposed false prophets and even endured suffering for Jesus.

But Jesus still warned them not to forget their first love. He could have just as easily written, “Don’t worship other “good” things before Me.”

God knows that when we place our main worship on other things, we get messed up and lost. It’s not because He’s this big ego maniac and needs our attention. It’s because He cares so much that He knows what’s best for us. Not for Him, but for us.

I know I have to constantly remind myself to make sure I’ve got my priorities straight. When I get it wrong, I risk losing huge chunks of my life chasing things that don’t matter. In the end, understanding that my main focus is God and not me, keeps me serving the One who loves me so much.