“And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.” Jeremiah 32:35
Think about how you spend your time and what you tend to think about. Objects of our time and attention ultimately cost us some thing. One could argue that those things are what we worship.
When we worship the wrong thing, anything other than the one true God, sin is not far behind. We may not be building high places on which to sacrifice our children, but we do struggle with keeping God in his rightful place in our lives-the most high place. When our attention and affection shift from God toward lesser things, we deny God His value as our object of worship. This action may also lead us to make sacrifices that eventually prove to be harmful to us and to our families.
Not unlike God’s chosen people toward Molech, the things we sacrifice to in place of God are an “abomination” to the Lord, and they never even entered His mind as a possibility. He wants our heart, it’s attention and affection. What does God require of you? “But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8.
Are there things you do in the name of pleasing God that, if you stop to consider it, He has not actually required? Is there anything you practice in the name of worship that God has not required of you?
