The War For Your Worship Consumed, Part 1
Anything we do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship. At this point, we may need to broaden our understanding of worship. It is far more than music, healing, and euphoric experiences; it’s a lifestyle. Still, the choice is ours whether to withhold it, or to give to God what He wanted from us the most. The option to choose is there because there has been a war for our worship. (giving and receiving) Pleasure is one of the greatest gift from God, we have our five senses for that. Worship on the other hand is an in-built need to connect with God, a universal urge. He himself hard wired it into our bodies. Now, if we fail to give pleasure to God (that’s worship), most often than not, we find a substitute for this longing; and this is where the tug-o-war for our worship comes in. The question is, where and to whom do you spend most of your time, efforts, money, and thoughts? Is it God, or your family, work, status, our bodies, hobbies ( habits, maybe?) What do you worship? So much ado about worship, why is it so important?
You are a worshipper. “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself idols…You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God” Exodus 20:3-5 We were made to give pleasure to God, He chose to create us for His own enjoyment. Sounds selfish? NO. It works like this: when we truly give our worship to God, we follow His words, and when we do, we live our lives in accordance to His will. Now, how can you go wrong when you follow the most powerful, most intelligent of all. Bottom line is, God wants us to worship Him so we can be happy. And He wants everybody to enjoy this life, so much so that He made each one of us to be a true blue worshipper, we just didn’t know it.
You will become like what you worship. What you behold you become! If we adore money, our lives will be spent; If we focus our full attention to clothes, we’ll be worn out; love our work too much, and our lives will be tedious, give our undivided attention to our loved ones, and we’ll feel unloved because somehow they will disappoint us. Albeit these things are not bad, too much of it is intoxicating. “But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men…Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” Psalm115: 4,8 Try praising God - In worship, God will slowly mold us, to be like Him – understanding, patient, loving, faithful, kind, and joyful.
The secret to a lifestyle of worship is to do everything as if you’re doing it for Jesus. Praise Him in work, at home, in our joys and pains, in bed when we wake up and before we sleep. As we do, carry it out with the audience of One, for He alone is worthy of our praise. Worship is the natural response to God’s love. It is the only reasonable response to His unwavering affection for us, and in view of who God is and what He has done, let us bring an offering, and we are the offering. Give God our heart, our mind, our body and soul, all that we have. Let this be our hearts desire, because after all He owns it all.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.” Romans 12:1