In my previous post, Worship With Your All, I asked for your thoughts and comments on this quote:
“Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God.” William Temple
I want to thank all of you who shared. Even if you didn’t share, I pray you pondered this statement and took it to heart.
Our worship is so much more than prayer and praise. It is our lifestyles, our attitudes and actions. It is how we conduct ourselves at home, at work, at play, and especially when we are alone. We can sing and lift our hands in church, and that is great, but I believe God desires worship that is constant and true.
Jesus said, “…His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (Jn. 4:24)
Romans 12:1, says, “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.” This passage is referring to the time when worship to God required the death and sacrifice of an animal. Jesus paid that price for us. Now God desires a living sacrifice.
This is a great oxymoron: “living” meaning alive, and “sacrifice” meaning to kill. What does this means? 1Samuel 15:22 says, “But Samuel replied: ‘Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.’” Our lives are to be our sacrifice of worship to God. To do this we have to die to ourselves, to the desires of our flesh, and live our lives for Christ.
“’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: `Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Mark 12:30-31
Worship is submitting to God when we don’t feel like it but know that He is God. Worship is surrendering our agenda for the day (or our lives) and accepting what God has allowed when we don’t like it or don’t understand it. Worship is acknowleding God’s Lordship in every area of our lives, surrendering our desires for His.
