A Lifestyle of Worship
“If we live, we live to honor the Lord; and if we die, we die to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” Romans 14:8
“He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.” 2 Cor. 5:15
As God has been willing to personally come to Earth and give Himself in the person of Christ to live a life that demonstrated the grace and glory of God, ultimately choosing to die as a sacrifice for our sins and then be raised to eternal life as a seal and a promise of God’s saving work in human hearts, we must also be willing to give ourselves sacrificially. This is our spiritual gift of worship to the One who has given His all for us.
“I appeal to you therfore, brethren, by the mercies of God , to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Romans 12:1
This intentional giving over of all of life to God for the purpose of bringing Him glory is true worship. It is an attitude of the heart and mind and a commitment of the life that is acceptable to God. Paul says our commitment to live as a sacrifice to honor the Lord is holy. His presence and His help in following through with our commitment to bring Him glory in all that we do, say and think allows us to grow in our expression of His worth, becoming more like Christ. Whatever we are doing or thinking or saying, we are learning to live in an attitude of worship, seeking to express the infinite worth of God through our lives.* Several times in Scripture, a person is referred to as someone who “walked with God.” Enoch, for example is described as a man who walked with God in Genesis 5:22 and 24. Noah is also spoken of as a man who walked with God in Genesis 6:9. In 1 Kings 8:25, the prayer of Solomon is that God would keep His promise to David, “Now therefore, O LORD, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father that which You have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way to walk before Me as you have walked.’ ” In some translations, the words “habitual” or “faithful” are used in these verses to further clarify the meaning of “walking with God.” Such a testimony of faithfulness in walking with God requires the intentions and desires of our hearts and the focus of our lives must be in seeking to bring glory to God.
Help for the Journey
God knows we cannot be faithful in walking with Him in an intentional and habitual attitude of worship on our own. He knows we need His help, His guidance, His strength, and His mercy and forgiveness. That is why we have a Savior, and that is why we need His Spirit to indwell our hearts and lives. God knows we need reminders of who He is and we must be intentional in seeking to bring glory to Him through our lives. Consider this instruction from Deuteronomy 6:4-9:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
God knows we need the reminder of seeing his word before us, even to the extent we should have verses about who God is on our walls and above our doors. Although this is an Old Testament Scripture and refers in some instances to the significant items of clothing worn by the children of Israel, God’s admonition to His people was that they would intentionally place reminders of God’s love and faithfulness wherever they would be seen, as reminders to live an intentional life of loving and serving God with all of their heart, soul and strength. These reminders would focus their attention on the Lord so they would talk about Him as they got up in the morning, continue to talk and think about Him (and seek Him) when they would lie down at night and when they walked throughout their day. In another passage, Deuteronomy 11:18-21, which is almost identical**, this admonition is made: “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds …” Or, as we read in Colossians 3:16-17: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
Walking in Worship
When we become intentional in choosing to seek to live a life that honors God in every moment, we are living a lifestyle of worship and walking with God. This kind of choice to walk in worship goes far beyond the expressions of praise we often refer to as worship. Praise is a good thing. We must always seek to praise God because He is good, and He is worthy of our praise. However, expressions of praise can be tied to our feelings and our desires. We often say or express in our thoughts a “Praise the Lord” when something happens that we are happy about. Such expressions can become habit without thought. However, walking in worship requires thought. It requires our intention to do far more than just train ourselves to say and do the right things. Walking in worship requires staying in close relationship with God through Christ, trusting Him to guide and help us, and seeking to intentionally live in such a way our lives bring glory to Him. Where we fail, God’s mercy upholds us. And, as we learn to increasingly rely on Him, walking with Him, we are walking in worship.
“Make a joyful moise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness; come fefore His presence with singing. Know that the Lord is God; it is He that has made us and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise; be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good: His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.” Psalm 100 (all verses, 1-5)
NOTES:
* These paragraphs contain words and thoughts based upon both Col. 3:16-17 and on John Piper’s definition of worship. This definition is found in the devotion titled ”Bodies, Breakfast, and the Marriage Bed.”
** The companion passage, Deuteronomy 11:18-21, in its entirety: “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.”
