A life of worship

 

      "And so brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and a holy sacrifice, the kind he would find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him". Romans 1 vs 1

Growing up as a child, I could not count the number of times that my Sunday school teachers repeatedly told us that when we come to church, we should leave our stubbornness and  naughtiness outside the church gates then come in quietly and be in our best behaviour because we are in the presence of God, and when we were on our way home we could pick up from where we dropped off at the gate as long as it was not carried into the house of God.

What this did to me as a child  was that, I grew up with the mindset that it is only in church on Sundays that I get to be holy, so for years, I grew up in the lie that God is not interested in how I live my life during the week, all that mattered was how holy I can be while in church. That mindset was born out of the lack of understanding of the scripture that says "your body is the temple of God and the spirit of God dwells inside us and was given to you by God, you don't belong to yourself, for God bought you at a high price,so you must honour God with your body,(1 corinthians 6 vs 19-20)"this simply means that God is no more in a specific church location than he is in you.

Someone once said to me that, it was alright to drink and smoke  as long as it is not done in the house of God, i.e in the church premises. My question now is what then happens to the temple of God that is your body?.

I just love it when people refer to God as their lover, provider and friend, but I also hope that they understand that he is more than that. Am I saying that he is not all these?, of course not, what I am saying is that, in addition to all these he is also a king, lord and master- all these talk about the leadership role of God in the life of a believer.
When there is a king, there is a kingdom and every kingdom has a pattern of lifestyle or should I say a code of conduct, that everyone who has pledged allegiance to that kingdom must be subject to irrespective of their location. The kingdom of God is no different......

People that say "it is only when you are in the house of God, that worship can take place because that is where his presence is," probably have not seen the scripture that says " I can never escape from your spirit, I can never get away from your presence" Psalm 139 vs 7.

Worship goes beyond the 30 minutes slow songs that is done in church, worship is a lifestyle, that every point in time in your life, your actions can point people to the kingdom that you are affiliated to.

Lukewarmness is a status that is not recognised in the kingdom of God  because the Bible said that he would spit those that are lukewarm out of his mouth.
One of the things that Jesus called the religious teachers out on  in the Bible, was their nature of teaching one thing and acting in a totally different manner, this tells you that worship goes beyond words and tunes, but it must transcend to you pattern of living, because everything must give glory to God including your actions, words and even your thoughts.

As we continue in our Christian journey, let us walk with the understanding of the scripture that says that " those that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth". We should all come to the point where we strive to bring our will and actions to conform to the dictations of God, as a form of worship to him.
May God grant us all the grace to grow in love for him and live for his kingdom.