You become like what you worship, for better or for worse. This reality highlights the principle in Scripture that worship is transformative. Perhaps the clearest verse to point to in order to illustrate this is Psalm 115:3-8:
Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
Idolatry (the worship of anything besides the true God) leads to spiritual blindness, deafness, and muteness. It degenerates humanity by cutting us off from the source of life. Idols aren’t just statues or little figurines that we attach a superstitious worth to; they consist of anything we place ultimate value on. The Protestant Reformer Martin Luther defined an idol in this way: “Whatever your heart clings to and relies upon, that is your God; trust and faith of the heart alone make both God and idol.” (Luther’s Large Catechism) Retired Pastor Timothy Keller asked the pointed question, “What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.”
When we place ultimate value in the created world around us, we become spiritually unfeeling. We are transformed—or better, deformed—into something which God never intended. When, however, we set our gaze upon the true God of heaven, and direct our worship toward him, we are renewed in such a way that we begin to develop godly characteristics. We become Christ-like through Christian worship.
The apostle Paul said in Romans 12:1-2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Note here that true worship, spiritual worship is parallel to transformation and renewal in the Christian life. As we set our gaze upon Jesus through his Word, we are changed. Hence Paul could also say, “We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:8)
The principle that we become like what we worship is both sobering and encouraging. It’s sobering because it warns us not to set our hearts on the passing pleasures of sin, or the finite creation. If our gaze is upon this world, and we’re trusting it to give us ultimate meaning in life, we’ll be lost. But this principle should also encourage us, because when you set the eyes of your heart upon Christ and his gospel, you will not remain unchanged. In worship, God directs your attention to Jesus, and that vision—by faith—will transform you.
Footnotes
This is the thesis of G.K. Beale’s book on Idolatry, We Become What We Worship, which traces this theme throughout the Old and New Testaments.
Keller, Timothy, Counterfeit Gods, xix.
