The fact that human beings are hard-wired for worship is a unique aspect of our creation. It is the reason we love to hear a symphony or watch a juggler or marvel at an athletic feat. We love to be dazzled. It is the reason we watch sports on TV. Do you know that Antarctic penguins hold no diving competitions? They perform marvelous feats without color commentary or slow-motion replays. A brown bear grabs a salmon from the Columbia River, by any account an amazing feat of timing and coordination, and yet none of his fellow bears line the shore to applaud. Human beings do this sort of thing because human beings are uniquely designed for worship. Your kids love to be entranced by something amazing because they are instinctively worshippers.

Now, what happens when children who are designed for worship fail to worship the God in whose image they have been made? These children do not cease to be worshippers; they simply worship and serve something else. The apostle Paul speaks to this in Romans 1:25: “[ They] exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever” (NKJV).