Thursday Devotional - True Worship

I usually think of worship as something that comes from my mouth, whether I say it or sing it to God. I can praise God in prayer for His character or sing praise songs to Him. However, Paul points out that our entire lives and whole body are to be involved in worship.  

Romans 12:1-2       Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

As I was praying for my Dad that first week after his heart surgery, I wanted to know how best to help him. The surgeon had recommended a vegan diet to not just stop the rapid heart disease progression, but to hopefully reverse some of the blockage in the arteries that didn’t get stents. So, I helped make some vegan meals and decided I could join him in his new diet!

A couple different follow up doctors didn’t recommend that extreme of a diet, but did suggest an increased focus on plant-based foods. So, I haven’t kept to the original diet perfectly after that first week, but we have been much more intentional and careful about what we eat. It made me realize how difficult it is to make one small sacrifice when God has made so many sacrifices and didn’t ever quit or give up.

In addition to your and my words and songs, how else will you and I worship God with our bodies (whether it’s what we put into them, what we do with them, or what we choose not to do)?

Alice

Territorial

You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.  You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.  But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.  Exodus 20:4-6

Funny story about my wife and me.  Early in the spring, we went to a new breakfast place.  As we sat down, I saw a young lady from work that I said hello to.  The lady responded saying, “Hi, Kent.”  Without hardly missing a beat, the young lady looks at my wife, and says, “Oh!  Hello!  We just worked together.”  My wife has this astounding look on her face as if to say, “What did I do?”  However, I know my wife.  It seems like there is some unwritten girl code about not to be too friendly to another woman’s husband, and my wife must have given a certain look to remind her of it.  I laughed as she continued to deny the charges that I in no way had levied against her.  However, I understood her.  There is no doubt how much she loves me.  The way she puts it is that she’s not jealous of anyone, but she may at times be a bit territorial.  I smile with adoration knowing this.

God’s jealousy is out of love.  Not fear.  We often see jealousy as a self-centered ‘I am insecure and you do not want to see me angry’ type of jealousy.  That is simply not true.  I was listening to my pastor’s sermon this weekend, and he brought up a great point about God’s jealous streak.  He loves us, but not like the ‘I’m leaving for work.  I love you, honey’ kind of way.  It’s better described as the ‘You are the air that I breathe and when we are apart I am dying inside’ kind of love.  Yes, this does seem extreme, but here’s the thing.  In talking about the love of Jesus Christ, Paul wrote, “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.” (Ephesians 3:18-19a)  God’s jealousy takes on a different light here.  This Commandment that God gave to Moses was not a ‘bow down and worship’ Commandment.  It was a ‘my love for you and my people is so great, it should be cherished’ Commandment.  God could at any time send us into an uncontrollable tailspin for our sinful ways, but instead, He chooses to love us incredibly, mercifully, and unconditionally.  This is why our love for Him should be greatest because there is no doubt we are unworthy of it but yet, He gives it to us anyway.

Our relationship with God is a love story.  I was once told by a great pastor that the Bible is about how God lost a people, and through Jesus Christ, He wants us back.  It should be truly humbling to think that the God who created the earth, the God of awesome wonders, and the true Holy and Living God thinks so highly of you and me.  He loves us so that He gave His Son’s life for us.  So, let us embrace this love He has and all that comes with it.  How can you see God’s love even in His correction of your wrongful ways?  How can we appreciate His jealousy for what it is?  My prayer is that whether we are right or wrong, we lovingly appreciate that our God at times will be ‘territorial.’  Amen!

Tues Devo: Not busy

Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (NASB)

Hello,

This past weekend I was talking with someone I hadn’t seen in a while, and in the course of normal chit-chat I mentioned that I was “staying busy”. It struck me as I stood there because I had recently been reminded of a need to have focus in both the work and spiritual areas of my life. It got me thinking about the opposite of busy. What if It wasn’t the absence of things to do, but rather focus? What if instead of filtering our choices for things based on if we had time, we filtered based on if it was related to something we were supposed to be focused on?

Don’t get me wrong – we all need rest and down time, but how much are we missing out on because we don’t make focus one of our primary filters for how we use our time? This brought to mind these verses in Hebrews and the phrase “fixing our eyes” – what a great way to think about our focus. I hope this encourages and challenges you today.

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill

Be Prepared

I have now rewritten today’s devotion about three times.  I would write something then felt that was not what God was leading me to share today.  I pray that as I have been lead today to change what I have written, that it will speak to whoever God has intended for it to be for.

1 Thessalonians 5:17-18

Always keep on praying.  No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

These verses are amongst the verses that are talking about Christ’s return and not knowing the day or the hour.  We need to always be prepared at all times. 

I was talking with my husband yesterday about a situation that we have been dealing with.  We were talking about someone close to us that is always telling us how we should be living our lives and how we are not doing the right thing by sending our son to a public school in the fall.  We started talking about faith and being prepared for God’s return at any point.   We are not to just be faithful in going to church, rather we are to live a Godly life. 

This is something that I try hard to live.  I try to be God to others, be it with the words that I share, taking someone a meal, caring for someone’s child or whatever it might be.  I have been asked why I do this when I don’t get hardly even a thank you at times.  To me, it is not about getting anything back, it is about being ready for Christ’s return at any point.  Would I want those around me to see Christ return but not know Christ? Of course not.  To be prepared, I need to constantly be sharing Christ with others.  I need to be constantly praying and be thankful for those opportunities each and every time they come up. 

How are you preparing for Christ return?  Will those around you also be prepared because of your example?