True and Proper Worship.

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.~ Romans 12:1

When it comes to worship, churchgoers love to talk about the who, when, where, and what of worship, but do we really know HOW God wants us to worship?

When the occasion arises that we are in search of a new church to attend, we often focus on the experience of worship. Was the music jazzy enough? Did we find peace in the process? Did other members welcome us? How long did it take for communion? Did the congregation say the correct version of the Lord’s Prayer?

When we invite our non-member friends to worship we often refer to how we feel after a service or how great the sermon was or what beautiful songs the choir performs. While these are all integral parts of our Sabbath Day experiences, these acts are not what the Lord our God had in mind when He calls us to worship Him.

If we relegate our worship to the experience we have on Sunday morning, we are going against what Paul advised his followers in Romans 8:7 (The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.) By placing our worship experience in church first, have taken a very self-absorbed approach to worshipping God. We have lost sight of what the act of worship is all about.

God wants us to worship Him in all that we do. “Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.” Rom. 12:1a MSG. He wants our lives to be lived to His glory so that all that we do is an act of worship before him. That means, when you are at your desk on Monday morning do your work with the spirit of God leading you; when you go to lunch carry the grace of God to your server; when you walk your dog tender His love on the least of these; when you pick your child up from school thank Him for this precious precocious one. That is how God wants us to worship Him. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. (Romans 12:6) Use them for His glory. Worship Him by using them well.