Last week we discovered that worship is a lifestyle. Everything in our lives -- driving a car, mowing grass, doing schoolwork, even eating a cheeseburger -- can qualify as pleasing acts of worship. But have you stopped to think why God is interested in even our most menial tasks?
Do you remember what God said when he finished creating man & woman on the 6th day? He said it was “very good” (Gen. 1:31). Think about that. They had not even had the chance to do anything, yet he was pleased with them. He enjoyed their company as he walked in the cool of the day with them. They were made in his image; they were a reflection of him. They brought him glory. As God’s children, we bring him glory, too. Like Adam & Eve, we are created to praise him with our lives.
In Ephesians 1:3-14, Paul keeps repeating this awesome theme: “to the praise of his glory”. Paul wanted us to see the purpose for our being created. All God has done for us and in us is “to the praise of his glorious grace.” Amazing as it may sound, because he loves us he has raised us up and seated us with Christ in heavenly realms so we can one day be trophies of his grace.
H.A. Ironside believed that one of these days we are going to have a part in a great exhibition. From every part of the earth there will be gathered together all who have been redeemed. As Dr. Ironside explains it, the Lord will then show “to all created intelligences how it has been the delight of His heart to show great grace to great sinners. That is our future -- a future that does not depend on our faithfulness but on His, who saved us by grace in order that we might show His glories forevermore.”
Consider what 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.” In view of God’s mercy, Paul tells us that our spiritual act of worship is to lay ourselves down on an altar of surrender. God wants our hearts yielded to him, pure and simple. That’s that’s what is acceptable to God: giving up control and allowing him to do whatever he wants to do in us and through us. The King James version calls presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice to him a “reasonable service.” As we lay our lives down for him to fill and to use, we become expressions of praise to him. And, considering we were designed to bring him glory, such an act is very “reasonable.”
[taken from Pure Praise: A Heart-Focused Bible Study on Worship, Dwayne Moore, 14-16.]
...Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession -- to the praise of his glory.
--Ephesians 3:13-14
No comments:
Post a Comment