What you worship…

Someone once said that the deity you worship is the deity you emulate. I think there’s a lot of truth in that. 

In Martin Luther’s Large Catechism, he had this to say about what a god is:

“A god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress, so that to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart.”

In essence, a god is anything or anyone that you place your ultimate trust in. It’s the thing or person you take your cues from in how to live, interact with other, what values you will live by, etc. 

Often we don’t call these things gods in our modern culture. There are many gods that fit Luther’s definition in our world. The gods might be new as technology, nations, language, and cultures, change, but all we really do is replace one god for a new model. 

Some of the most common gods in society are money, strength, intelligence, work, nationality, political party allegiance, sex, drugs, entertainment, technology, etc. Just about anything can be someone’s god. 

The biggest problem with all of this is that these empty gods are worthless. They don’t care about the person worshipping it. They aren’t alive. They are disposable. And what we worship, we emulate. We end up not caring about others, or ourselves. We end up sacrificing so much for the gods we make, while receiving less and less. We die inside. We become disposable. Not only do we emulate the god we worship, but we make our gods in our own image too. I think some of the reason for this is to justify our actions, how we treat others and ourselves, and more. We are always interested in looking like the good person, the hero. If we are emulating the god we worship, we can justify our actions and how we treat others. 

I think this is why it often feels like people in the same faith tradition can feel like they aren’t worshipping the same god. There are strains of Christianity that have a strong emphasis on getting the beliefs correct because otherwise, there is a punishing God who will get angry. This contrasts with other strains of Christianity that place a strong emphasis on caring for others, especially the vulnerable and outcast of society. This version of God is loving and invitational. It seems like there are two different Gods. And in some ways, there are different Gods being worshipped. 

While we will probably never resolve this, there have been plenty of groups that have tried to impose their version of God on everyone else. That never works out well. 

Knowing what god someone is worshipping is helpful in your interaction with them. But you don’t need to ask them what/who they worship. Often they will say what they believe in. But that is usually just an aspirational claim. If you want to want to know what a person actually believes, then observe how they act. Pay attention to how they treat others – especially those that are different than themselves. Watch how they treat items and creation. They will emulate the god they actually believe. The god they put their ultimate trust in. The god they take their cues from. And once you know what god they are worshipping, you have a better sense of how much value you, everyone else, and the rest of creation will have.