Rethinking Worship

Daily Devotional: Day 88

‘“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment” (Matthew 22:36-38, NKJV).

Your heart is not yours; it is for the Lord. God wants, not some of your heart, but all of it. He requires, not some of your devotion, but all your devotion. The Lord has no tolerance for half-hearted devotion. Recall that He warned the church in Laodicea that due to their lukewarm attitude, He would vomit them out of His mouth (cf. Revelation 3:16). Love is a two-way street. The Bible says that God first loved us; and His love for us has made it possible for us to love Him (cf. 1 John 4:19).

 In Christ Jesus, God has lavished all His love upon us. Therefore, the only reasonable and acceptable response to this radical love is for us to love Him back with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. This is the definition of worship: total consecration of your life to God, removing all resistance to His will.

Many of us have been raised, unfortunately, to think of worship primarily in terms of the 30-minute or 1-hour slot allocated for singing and dancing during Sunday or Saturday service. Today, when many people hear “worship,” we often associate it with loud music, drums, dazzling lights and intense emotional experience. Making music to God is part of worship, but it is by no means the definition of worship. The Bible truth is, worship is a lifestyle; it is a way of being; it is a state of mind.

Worship encompasses a Christian’s whole life. It is not a moment on Sundays or a morning devotion. It is a lifestyle of holy living characterized by around-the-clock devotion to the law of God and submission to His will as expressed in the Bible.

Paul put it so well when he wrote to the Christians in Rome: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). Let’s be honest: How many Christians have offered their bodies to God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable?

The word “service” (from Romans 12:1) is a translation of the Greek word latreia. This word, among other things, means religious or sacred service, i.e. worship. True worship, therefore, means to voluntarily present your entire self to God as a sacrifice for Him to do with you as He pleases. When love for God consumes you, your only desire will be to please Him, not yourself. Let Christians arise and worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. Let’s rethink worship.

Prayer:

Dear Father, I bless you for your tender mercies. Thank you for lavishing all your love upon me. I give you all my heart, all my soul, and all my body as my reasonable worship. Lord, have your way in me. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

For further study: Deuteronomy 6:1-25