Wisdom 14:17-31: a reflection

17And when men could not honor them in presence because they lived far off, imagining the likeness from afar, they made a visible image of the king whom they honored, that by their zeal they might flatter the absent as if present. 18But worship was raised to a yet higher pitch, even by those who didn’t know him, urged forward by the ambition of the architect; 19for he, wishing perhaps to please his ruler, used his art to force the likeness toward a greater beauty. 20So the multitude, allured by reason of the grace of his handiwork, now consider an object of devotion him that a little before was honored as a man. 21And this became an ambush, because men, in bondage either to calamity or to tyranny, invested stones and stocks with the Name that shouldn’t be shared. 22Afterward it was not enough for them to go astray concerning the knowledge of God, but also, while they live in a great war of ignorance, they call a multitude of evils peace. 23For either slaughtering children in solemn rites, or celebrating secret mysteries, or holding frenzied revels of strange customs, 24no longer do they guard either life or purity of marriage, but one brings upon another either death by treachery, or anguish by adultery. 25And all things confusedly are filled with blood and murder, theft and deceit, corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury, 26confusion about what is good, forgetfulness of favors, ingratitude for benefits, defiling of souls, confusion of sex, disorder in marriage, adultery and wantonness. 27For the worship of idols that may not be named is a beginning and cause and end of every evil. 28For their worshipers either make merry to madness, or prophesy lies, or live unrighteously, or lightly commit perjury. 29For putting their trust in lifeless idols, when they have sworn a wicked oath, they expect not to suffer harm. 30But on both counts, the just doom will pursue them, because they had evil thoughts of God by giving heed to idols, and swore unrighteously in deceit through contempt for holiness. 31For it is not the power of things by which men swear, but it is the just penalty for those who sin that always visits the transgression of the unrighteous.

This passage traces how idolatry arose and what it led to. It describes how images came to be made and worshiped, and then it draws a sweeping conclusion: the worship of idols, it says, is the beginning and cause and end of every evil. For once people gave their worship to what was not God, a flood of corruption followed, confusion about good and evil, broken relationships, deceit, violence, and every kind of disorder. Wrong worship, the passage insists, is the root from which moral corruption grows.

Notice the connection the passage draws between worship and life: what people worship shapes how they live. When they gave their devotion to idols, to what was not God, their whole moral life was corrupted downstream; for having displaced the true God, they lost their grip on good and evil, and a flood of wrongs followed. Worship is not a sealed-off religious compartment; it shapes the whole of life. Wrong worship corrupts everything; right worship orders everything.

That is a truth worth taking to heart. We are all worshipers of something, giving our deepest devotion to God or to some idol, some created thing set in his place; and what we worship shapes how we live. If we worship what is not God, our lives are corrupted downstream, our values distorted, our conduct disordered. But if we worship the true God, our lives are ordered rightly around him. Examine what you truly worship, for it is shaping how you live. Give your worship to God alone, not to the idols that corrupt everything downstream; for right worship of the true God is the root of a rightly ordered life, while the worship of idols is, as this passage says, the beginning of every evil.

Lord, this passage traces how idolatry arose, and concludes that the worship of idols is the beginning and cause and end of every evil, for once people gave their worship to what was not God, a flood of corruption followed. Take that truth to my heart. What I worship shapes how I live; worship is not a sealed-off religious compartment, but shapes the whole of life. If I worship what is not you, my life is corrupted downstream, my values distorted, my conduct disordered. But if I worship you, the true God, my life is ordered rightly around you. Help me examine what I truly worship, for it is shaping how I live. I am a worshiper of something, giving my deepest devotion to you or to some idol set in your place. Help me give my worship to you alone, not to the idols that corrupt everything downstream. For right worship of you is the root of a rightly ordered life; order my life by drawing my worship wholly to you.