I get a lot of joy out of watching babies view themselves in the mirror for the first time. The wonder and the confusion that they have at this little person who is staring at them is a beautiful sight to behold. Of course, for far too many people, that first glance in the mirror portends a life of being consumed with self. What started as wonder quickly becomes worship as they strive to make the whole world revolve around them.
It may be easy to think that this doesn’t describe us, or our children, but all of us worship something. Every human being that has ever been created centers their thoughts, attention, words and actions on whatever is their highest priority. While I have never done a scientific study and I know of no way to prove whether this assertion is right, my hypothesis is that if someone doesn’t worship God, they are most likely to worship themselves. They may not think of it as worship, but if they are their own center, if what is best for them is of most importance, then that is who they worship. When we don’t serve the one true God, we are most likely to be consumed with serving ourselves. And often what hinders someone from surrendering their life to Christ is that they don’t want to give up their claim to self in order to follow Him.
It is this realization that makes it all the more remarkable that Christ was willing to give up the worship that He deserved when He came to this Earth. The One who rightly should be the center of every person’s life was willing to set that aside to serve those who choose instead to worship themselves. Of course, there were some moments while Jesus was on Earth where He was worshipped as He should be, but by and large, He forewent adoration and praise and instead received condemnation and hate. He set aside the worship that He deserved and in exchange was scorned and accused.
This should amaze us. Most of us, myself included, do not handle it well when we don’t get the credit that we believe we are due. When we work hard and it is disregarded, we get bent out of shape. When we sacrifice and others lack gratitude, we wonder how they could respond in that way. When we are cut off on the freeway, or ignored at the shopping counter, we are astounded at the rudeness of this world. Yet we do not deserve to be treated any better. We think we are deserving of more, but we are wrong. What we deserve is condemnation and judgment because of our sin against a holy God. And yet God, who should justly receive all the worship that ever was and is and will be, exchanged what He was due to take on the punishment for our sin. He deserved worship and received hatred. We deserve nothing good, yet we refuse to appropriately worship Him.
The contrast is remarkable. The proper response to Jesus is what He experienced in Heaven when the angels surrounded Him and declared His holiness (Is. 6:3). And while the angels also commemorated His physical birth, for most of His public ministry, there was little worship of Him. Those who should have known who He was were often those who reviled Him the most. Those He came to save refused to acknowledge that He was their Savior. He deserved worship, and yet they accused Hm of worshipping Satan. Even still, He was willing to set aside the adoration that He was due in order to save His enemies from their sin. It is easy to sentimentalize the celebration of Jesus’ birth; to laud the nativity scene for its quaintness and simplicity. However, let us remember that it was marked by loud proclamations of praise (Luke 2:13), May our celebrations of Christmas be marked by the same. May we supply what was so often missing from Christ’s time on Earth – devoted and heartfelt worship of Him.
