Matthew 4:9
And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
The Devil reenacted the move that sent him to Hell, originally. He promised the Lord all, if he was worshipped.
The desire for worship to be given to us does not belong only to the devil. We are all succeptible to this temptation. Imagine, the desire for the God of the Universe to fall and worship you. That is our depravity and it is in imitation of our original sinful father. In our recreation, we are learning to turn our worship from ourselves to the God of All Worship.
We take time parsing thoughts to turn them manward. This is for me and this is for God, we divvy out our praise. {some say, I don't feel comfortable with a worship that only worships God and doesn't talk about me.} That sounds some like Matthew 4:9 the bargaining of the devil with the Lord and Savior of our souls. Unwittingly, we may say, I will give you all of me, if you give some of the "service" to the worship and exaltation of me. Don't I deserve some praise for coming to worship service? What is the center of our worship? Is it my presence or is it His presence?
On the other hand there are many, who know not Jesus yet, who are looking for the promises of the devil to come to pass. They have worshipped the devil for years and are waiting for their all from him. Shame and sad will be the ultimate demise of such souls. They may have had all of the earth at their feet at life and it will seem like ashes in their hands, if they miss the goodness of God and don't get to worship Him in their lives. All the promises of God are yea and amen, to those who believe and all of the promises of the devil, though they look to come to pass, they are a mirage in the light of the knowledge of God in a person's life. There is no scale to calculate the loss, if a man gain the whole world {worship included} and have not Christ as friend and Lord and King and Savior. If I am present in worship and seeking worship from God {it sounds rediculous, but it is sometimes our lot in our depravity} God can cleanse such a state as this. But, if I am bowing at the altar of the devil and waiting for the "present" from him, all that I will receive is death, at the last. Then, where will I be?
Cleanse me, Lord from my self worship. Help me worship in spirit and in truth. I know that the Father seeks such to worship Him. Amen.
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