We Become What We Worship

by Pastor Scotty Anderson

Several years ago, I was introduced to a most interesting biblical insight in terms of understanding the consequences of idolatry. It came through the writings of Greg Beale, a conservative scholar who loves to write exhaustive treatments of subjects in biblical theology. His book, We Become What We Worship (the title I’ve borrowed for this article) explores this critical element of idolatry and its most devastating consequences.

Beale’s main premise, which he introduces on the first page is simple and memorable, “What you revere you resemble, either for ruin or for restoration.” Repeat that to yourself about a dozen times and let it sink in. His point is that whatever we make the object of our worship, we begin to take on the qualities of that object. It tends to make the objects of our worship rather important, doesn’t it?

The Scriptures paint a realistic but unfavorable picture of the viability of idols. Unseeing eyes, unhearing ears, ignorant hearts. This is the idol in Isaiah 42:17-20 and also of the one who succumbs to idolatry in Isaiah 6:9-10. The equating of the two is obvious in Isaiah 43:8-10 and 44:8-20, esp. v. 18,

“They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand.”

Throughout the Bible there are literally hundreds of cases that illustrate this: Lot’s wife becoming salt (Gen 19:17, 26, Deut 29:23), Solomon’s many wives leading to the division of his kingdom (1 Kings 11), the “belly-gods” of the Judaizers (Php 3:18-19), the creature worshippers in Romans 1:18-32. Psalm 115 gives us the locus classicus of this doctrine in v. 8:

“Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.” These remind us that idolatry, whatever form it takes, will not leave the worshiper unchanged, untouched, or undamaged.

What’s the value of understanding such a concept? In the first place, when you understand the end of idolatry, it makes saying “no” to the idol much more appealing. If you consider the possibility and probability that you will end up taking on the characteristics of that which you worship, you may be more willing to consider the object of your worship. But there is also the fact that in knowing the ugly results, you might be more inclined to repent, especially when someone points out, “You are not the person you used to be.” Idolatry may well be at work.

Consider some contemporary idols. For one, the old hand-carved, sit on the mantle with incense burning nearby type idol is no longer a joke. Anyone familiar with the work of Dr. Peter Jones in drawing attention to One-ism, Eastern Mysticism, and New Age theology would not be surprised to learn that you have people in your neighborhood who either dabble in or fully embrace the worship of crystals, trees, and other inanimate objects. It’s not just the religion of “backward” people on the other side of the planet. It’s mainstream America.

I once spent an hour on an airplane with a very bright and articulate art dealer. This was a well-educated man. He had also fully embraced Buddhism and had even had a shaman move into his home to instruct him and his wife in the pursuit of nirvana – the deliverance of mind. In the process, his wife committed adultery with the shaman and eventually left her husband for him. The poor man was broken in spirit but because he felt like he had achieved some measure of nirvana he lost the moral categories to process his wife’s infidelity and his own stupidity. We become what we worship.

The blatant nature of that type of idol should not allow us to escape the danger of forming other less obvious idols. The Apostle Paul battled the Corinthian culture and the rampant idolatry that infected the church. We can easily dismiss that as not being relevant until we learn that many of the local trade guilds had their own organizational idol. If you wanted the inside track on business, you literally had to dance with the devil, or at least eat with him if you wanted to succeed (1 Cor 10:14-22, esp. v. 21). Contemporary idols are perhaps not that hard to spot: money, traditions, celebrity, sports, sex, success, attention, and self. Each has its own flavor and each has the same tendency: to make its worshiper take on its characteristics.

What happens when you worship money? You become all green and wrinkly! No, in reality, you do start taking on the characteristics of money. Money has no feeling, no sympathy, no moral compass. It’s thin, fleeting, and does not offer forgiveness. No wonder that those possessed of this idol reflect those same qualities. Sports? The same might be said again: fleeting glory, wildly varying highs and lows, seasonal absences. Does that not picture those who are consumed by sports? They live in the past, become bipolar with their moods, and check out of life at key times on the calendar. How about celebrity worshipers? Their objects of worship are frequently self-absorbed, shallow pretenders. Those preoccupied with celebrity most certainly imitate their idols, emphasizing externals to the neglect of the heart. It’s not a pretty picture.

But, while worshiping idols has a terribly destructive effect on the worshiper, true worship has a reward. Those who worship God become like Him. If we worship God, we become conformed to His image. That is of course the design in the creation of man and woman, that they reflect their Maker in his communicable attributes (Gen 1:27). Our Standards would say, “…In knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures” (WSC 10). That is the call on every believer in the New Covenant, that he would be conformed more and more to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29, 12:2, Php 3:21). We extol Christ-likeness as the most encompassing description of the highest aspiration which we have for ourselves and for one another.

How interesting that doxology (giving glory to God) is not merely the result of sanctification, but also leads to sanctification.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:1–2