What's the first thing that comes to your mind when I say the word, "WORSHIP"?

Do you think Church? Do you think Hymns? Sunday Mornings? Easter? Christmas Eve? Tradition? Boring? Grandma? Fanatics? Obligation? Guitars, Organs, Choirs?

What if I told you all of those answers are right? And wrong?

We often associate Worship with religion or Sunday's at the building with the stained glass and a bell tower. But we worship so many things outside the church walls and we don't even realize it. For example, you probably know someone who is a fanatic about Apple products. They line up in the early hours of the morning in front of the App Store to get the newest iPhone 84 Pro Max Excelsior and the Deluxe Air Pods with built in calculator and toaster oven capability.

Or you may have heard about people called "Dead Heads" who traveled across the country to listen to every concert of the Grateful Dead. They put bumper stickers on their cars and live out of tents at the various concert locations for months on end.

There are actually people out there who take everything Dr. Phil says as the gospel truth.

We have a friend who has at least 12 different Christmas trees set up throughout her house every year.

Some people worship their kids, their dogs or cats, their status, their political party, their possessions, their homes, their jobs, their sports team, or their vacations. They live in such a way as to elevate these things to a higher status by giving of their time, energy, money, and attention. And in truth, that's what Worship really is: it's giving our attention, resources, time and energy toward something. Anything. In the context of a church, this might be God. But it could just as easily be the building, or the music, a particular program, or class.

This might be an over-simplification, but humor me. Let's do the math: If we look at this past year and add up all your time, how many hours did you spend in church, reading your Bible, praying, visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, ministering to the poor, and dedicating time to God? Compare that number to the number of hours you spent watching your favorite shows, sporting events, or news programs.

Or compare the amount of money you've put into the offering, food pantries and charities, orphanages and missions initiatives verses the dollars you paid for you favorite sports team gear, your monthly entertainment and eating out budget, or personal beauty products and hair cuts.

The Old Testament is filled with stories of people who worship golden idols and carved figures: People who committed their time, money, and attention to something that they created, instead of the God who created them. But God was pretty clear: You Shall Have No Other gods Before Me. According to this commandment (the first of the list of 10, by the way), this really isn't a both/and option. It's Either/Or.

So, how does your math add up?