Intricately built temples and shiny statues loomed before me.
The brilliant colors of the tapestries and rugs overwhelmed my eyesight. The smell of incense filled my nostrils. The blindingly golden statues drew my attention.
Then the reality of where we were hit me as the worshipers bowing down to Buddha broke my heart. We took a temple tour around Bangkok on Tuesday. We traveled to three of several temples in the city. At each place I was instantly taken back by the beauty of the artwork around me.
It was easy to see how people could be lured into worshiping these creations. When I looked closer in the first temple, I noticed pictures of people on small plaques all around the bases of the Buddha statues. Ja, our interpreter and guide for the day, told us that these were people whose ashes had been buried there beneath the Buddha statues.
As I walked around looking at all the people who had died believing that Buddhism was their hope in life, I began to weep. You see, it doesn’t quite hit home that these people die and go to hell without Jesus until you see their faces. It was then and there I realized the hurt and hopelessness facing these people. God also chose this opportunity to reveal something else to me as well. These people pour their lives into worshiping shiny golden statues created by men.
We may look at them and think they are crazy, but in America, we are caught in the same struggle. We worship shiny cars, big houses, nice clothes, the latest and greatest electronics, and the list goes on. These are all things created by men. We worship the created and not the Creator. Satan has a grand scheme that has worked for generations. He uses beautiful and shiny man made things to distract us from the most beautiful One that has ever and will ever exist. So as I prayed for God to break the hold Satan has over the people of Thailand, I lifted up our nation as well. I prayed that God would reveal His true beauty to them. I prayed that the scales would fall from their eyes and the oppression of worshiping a created object that has no power and no hope would be lifted from them. God is the only one worthy to be praised and worshiped. “The Lord is my light and my salvation…The Lord is the stronghold of my life…” Psalm 27:1 Joshua told the Israelites to choose this very day whom they will serve. We must do the same. The one we worship is the one we serve. Will you serve the Creator or the created?
