What Am I Worshipping

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Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'”_ — Luke 4:8
We either worship God or we are worshiping something else. But we can’t worship both. We must trade one for the other. Because in its very nature, worship is how we respond to the thing we value the absolute most! There can be nothing above or equal to it. The thing we spend most of our time thinking about, doing, giving the most attention to, putting all our energy into…that’s what we worship.
What am I worshiping? What things am I putting before God?
Challenge yourself to put that thing down where it belongs and put God up to where He belongs in your life: number one, the only one who deserves and is worthy to be worshiped.

Live Out Your Worship

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“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”_ –James1:22
True worship will lead us to action! As we worship the Lord we are changed and empowered. It all will mean nothing if we do not walk in that way. How can we be changed by the powerful and awesome presence of God and then return to our old ways? It would be insane! True change is seen in the way we live and in every part of our lives.
In order for our worship to be alive we need to change what we’ve been doing and make our worship and our lives not about us but about our King.
Remember when you worship the Lord, He reveals himself in a mighty way. So, live out your worship and let the Lord be glorified in and through your life.

Set Apart Your Worship

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“…let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”_ — 2 Cor7:1
Understanding that we have been made holy will help us live a holy life and offer to God holy worship. Our worship should be set apart, for we are no longer our old self with the acceptance of Christ into our lives. Our worship then should not be conformed to the patterns of this world but should be done in Spirit and in Truth.
The offering of worship, which we give, should not be a copy of what the world does. So, be careful not to get caught in the old way of life, once you have been made new. For these offerings ought to be set apart and not a “leftover” of which it doesn’t have much value.
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Worship

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The story of Cain and Abel (Gen 4:1-16) gives great insight about worship. We can gain a practical understanding about worship. First, worship is doing something. It’s stopping your normal routine and intentionally doing something for the sake of worshiping the Lord. Second, it is giving something. Both Cain and Abel brought an offering to the Lord. In the same way, in our culture, we should give something to the Lord. There is so much that we can give: time, money, energy, our lives, among others. Third, worship is pleasing someone. This is what set the worship of Cain and Abel apart. The offering Abel gave was received with favor. It was acceptable to the Lord and met the standard that God had set.
We can go through the motions and do the things that look like worship. We can give to the church, to others, and to God. However, just because we do these things, it isn’t automatic that we are pleasing God. A popular song says it well, “You search deeper within, through the way things appear. You’re looking into my heart.” (Heart of Worship by Matt Redman)
As a living sacrifice, is your life pleasing to the Lord?

Offering Our Bodies

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“…offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” — Rom12:1
Offering our bodies as a living sacrifice means we do not live for our desires, our plans, our dreams, or ourselves. All of that is surrendered to Jesus and we live for Him. We live out the prayer “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done…”
The difficulty we face is that this is an everyday decision. Author Harold Sala said, “The problem with living sacrifices is that they keep trying to crawl off the altar.” Though we have made a decision to follow Christ and worship Him, each day we have to make the decision to live it out. That’s what it means to be a living sacrifice or to have a lifestyle of worship.

Focus On God And His Priorities

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“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” — Matt6:33
In the first of the Ten Commandments, God commanded the Israelites to serve Him exclusively because He was worthy of their trust, as He had proved by delivering them from Egypt. Later, just before Moses died and the Israelites entered the promised land, God inspired Moses to remind the people of their single-minded calling.
God’s people needed to submit fully to his authority and believe he could provide all they needed. It’s this kind of trust that Jesus calls us to demonstrate as his disciples.
Unfortunately, Jesus’ disciple Peter had a bit more trouble retaining his single-minded focus when he was met with distraction. Peter’s experience is a good reminder of how we are to think about Jesus, and keep our eyes on him, even when our thoughts get sidetracked or we feel frightened. (See Matthew 14:22-36).