Don't Move The Furniture!

2 Kings 16:10  ".....and saw an altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the design of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship."

King Ahaz had been in Damascus, and while there he took a liking to an altar that he saw in one of the pagan temples.  He sent the design of the altar back to a priest in Jerusalem, who built a replica of that altar and put it in the temple in Jerusalem.  God had given Moses the exact plans for the tabernacle and altar and all the utensils used for worship and sacrifice.  Now, Ahaz in his pride saw an altar that fit his tastes better and figured he could replace that which God had designed.
It is always a danger for us to try and develop a god of our own making, to create in our own imaginations a god that suites our tastes better than the true God.  God has revealed Himself to us in His word and through His Son Jesus Christ.  There are many things God has revealed of Himself that may not be fashionable in society today.  At times it gets difficult, as we who trust in the revelation of God's word, might be called intolerant, closed minded, simple, or foolish.  The temptation might be to try and spruce up the gospel, to add something to it, or tone it down a bit, so that it might be more palatable to the world.
Ahaz saw an altar in the world that seemed to fit him better than the altar God had planned.  We don't know all of the kings motives, perhaps the Damascus altar was more up to date, or more attractive to the world's eyes, or maybe he fell into the trap of thinking that if its new its better.  This much we do know, the king clearly felt the altar of the world was better than the altar designed by God.  Ahaz eventually began changing the whole temple around so he might worship the way he wanted, and finally just closed the temple off completely.
I pray that we may all be grounded and steadfast in our faith, for we are under constant pressure from every direction, to "update" our God, or to "modernize" our beliefs.  Our God is perfect, we need to resist the temptation to move the furniture so as to make Him fit us better.