Is Your Worship an Opiate?

“Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting”. Psalm 147:1 ESV

The opium plant is used to produce morphine and codeine which are useful medical drugs to treat acute pain. However the plant is also widely used to manufacture heroin, a highly addictive illegal drug which is popular due to its creation of a state of euphoria. To ward off its illegal usage, there is strict supervision on the production of opium for medicinal purposes and of course the dosage to the patients is controlled in order to reduce side effects.

Karl Marx stated that “Religion is the opiate of the Masses”. Is that what worship does for you, just an end to itself by the creation of a euphoric state so that you can escape reality? Or does it produce in you the required holy expectancy and obedience? True worship should celebrate God’s goodness and seek to know His will in our lives.

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"As worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. Holy obedience
saves worship from becoming an opiate, an escape from the pressing needs of modern
life."  Richard Foster

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