Worship: It's a Lifestyle not a Sunday Sing-A-Long

         Unfortunately, in today’s society, the word “worship" means more to the world than it does to the Church. This is one subject that the enemy has used to divide the Church, and regrettably the Church has suffered greatly. 

          If you asked non-believers if they worshipped, I’m sure most would say a resounding “No”, because they associate the word worship with some “All-Knowing Being”, they don’t want any part of. Although their vocabulary doesn’t understand worship, the actions of their lifestyles certainly bare witness to the things they worship.  The non-believer worships, whether they realize it or not. In fact all people worship, believers and non-believers alike. For the non-believer, the worship would be better described as what we know as idolatry. You’ve seen the news, the headlines, as a fallen culture, people grasp at anything to make them feel alive, so they passionately adore, and fantasize celebrities, musicians, and even items that bring them pleasure. They might not be familiar with the word worship, but it’s exactly what they are doing. They are putting their attention, and focus and even money towards the object of their attention. They cheer at concerts, they hoop and holler and sporting events, they wear clothes that represent what they love. Unknowingly, worshiping.  

          It’s sad that for the Church, the same thing can be said. How alarming is it that the description of worship for the non-believer can many times, look very similar to that of a believer. I personally believe that God made all those things for us to enjoy, and He even takes pleasure in seeing us enjoy life. Whether, it’s shouting at a football game, or singing along at a rock concert of a band we enjoy. He delights in our pleasure. There is a balance though, sometimes a fine line between, our enjoyment of something and our worship of something. 

          We have to be very careful as believers to not put anything above our relationship with God. If we hold ourselves to a higher standard, and we are intentional about using our whole lifestyle as worship, I don’t think we have anything to worry about. We almost need to ask ourselves a question to decide if this thing we are doing is going to effect our relationship with Jesus, a litmus test if you will. To make it simple, filter everything you do through this one question, “Will this further my purpose or hinder me from receiving His best?”. 

          Simple does not always mean easy. Paul said, “I die daily.” Daily, ya’ll. That means even good ol’ Paul didn’t have it together. But he made a decision, to live a life totally surrendered to God, and if it meant that he had to renew his way of thinking 50 times a day, then so be it. We must, as a church, get better at this, and not reduce our “worship” to a meaningless sing-along every Sunday morning. It’s so much more.

Romans 12:1-2  So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.