Everyone worships something/someone. The question is what.
Even those that claim there is no god worship something. The definition of worship is:
“reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.” (Source: Dictionary.com)
So the question is what do we worship? There’s the stated answer – whatever it is you claim. But that may not be the actual answer.
Do you want to know who/what you really worship? The same question can be asked of groups, churches, organizations, and even nations.
Here’s one way to determine the real answer. How do you spend your time, money, energy, and attention? Do you use all of those listening to God in the variety of ways that God speaks to us? Or do you devote more time, money, energy, and attention listening to the other gods that demand worship?
Who are these gods? They are numerous. Here’s a short list. Money, power, being right, a politician or elected official, a political party, your work, exercise, social media, entertainment, sex, drugs, intelligence, etc.
Where do your beliefs align with – God or a god of your choosing?
Do you spend more time defending God or a god of your choosing?
Do you spend more time proclaiming God’s word and promises, or the promises of a god of your choosing?
What you spend more time, energy, money, and attention on is what you value. It is your god.
The same is true for a group of people, an organization, a church, and even a nation.
Laced up Lutheran 
Idolatry.
I roll with N.T. Wright on this one. He called the three great gods of modernity “Money, Sex, and Power”. He later amended that list and suggested a newage god concerned with the environment (I think).
At any rate, the original list of three is very manageable, helpful and insightful already. And it is not exhaustive or ever intended to be. But these are the GREATS of our time.
He points out that in ancient times they went by names like Mammon, Aphrodite, even Mars.
Btw, even though I don’t use this technique much in blogging, when I write papers or books and so forth, I always open with some “attention-getting” statement or question. And after reading Wright on this topic, I decided to visit that list of the three great gods of modernity and pick on one of those. It is fertile ground for grabbing attention.
Of course just talking about other peoples idols is one thing, trampling on them is yet another.
I pulled off a proph-O-drama where I used to go to church many years ago when Sunday worship fell on July the 4th. On that Sunday, I went into the church house carrying my Bible in my left hand and the tail of a rather large American flag which I let drag around on the floor behind me. People in the sanctuary actually stepped on it by mistake!
They also got very angry with me.
My cheap talk gave way to a prophetic demonstration about where our values REALLY resided. I did not drag this flag all over town, but IN GOD’s HOUSE, I figured it really could and should BEND THE KNEE to the real God. So I helped it do that, and boy, I found out that practically ALL of my brothers and sisters in Christ were willing to shun me for it.
Certainly changed the way I view “church” after that.
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Wow, that’s quite a demonstration. That’s like going for the jugular.
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No doubt.
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