Monday, May 03, 2004
40 Days of Purpose Day 8
First Purpose: Worship
You were planned for God's pleasure
Imagine this: The moment you were born into this world, God was an unseen witness, smiling at your birth. Rick Warren continues: "He wanted you alive, and your arrival gave Him great pleasure. God did not need to create you, but He chose to create you for His own enjoyment. You exist for His benefit, His glory, His purpose and His delight."
That puts a whole new spin on where I was in my Christian life. Knowing, sure, that everything in my life was part of God's plan, but that my decisions, my chosen paths were sometimes not where God would lead. Knowing now that I am here for His glory, His purpose has put new emphasis on my life as one who strives to be knowledgable of God and to know His will, so I will make the right decisions in everything.
"The Search For Signifigance" made a splash in the Christian book world a few years ago and became a popular study among women. God cannot be enclosed in a book, and the signifigance He gives you and me is awesome. We are that important to God! And He wants us for eternity!
In today's devotion, we learn that one of the greatest gifts that God gave us is the ability to enjoy pleasure. Five senses, all working with emotion to experience pleasure. And the reason He gave us this gift of pleasure is that He created us in His own image! Think about this: God too feels things very deeply. The Bible says that God gets jealous, grieves, gets angry, shows compassion, sorrow, pity and sympathy as well as happiness, gladness and satisfaction.
Bring pleasure to God is called Worship. We discussed this point in our small group meeting tonight, and the concept, if you've never heard of this before, is terriffic. Everything we do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship. Taking the neighbor to the doctor, volunteering at your daughter's school, allowing a car to pass ahead of you through the intersection, helping someone in need; all of these are acts of worship, as you bring pleasure to Him.
The problem can be, though, if we are not bringing pleasure to God with what we are doing, we find a substitute, and that is failing God. Whatever you value most, whatever your passion is, is your god. Notice the small "g," not God.
Worship is not just music (as in the Worship time and the Message being separated in a service,) or a description of a person (i.e. worship leader; shouldn't this be the pastor, and not the music leader?) Worship is a lifestyle, not even just a church service. Every part of a church service is worship too.
Remember this: Worship is not for your benefit. We worship for God's benefit! We can split hairs here, with some people saying "I didn't get anything out of worship today," well, you worshipped for the wrong reason! Don't let the word 'worship' limit you! It is not part of your life, it is your life!
How is it possible to do everything to the glory of God in worship? By doing eveything as if you were doing it all for Jesus and by carrying on a continuing conversation with Him while you are doing it! The Bible says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." Colossians 3:23. And that is the secret of a lifestyle of worship - doing everything as if you were doing it for Jesus. Work becomes worship when you dedicate it to God and perform it with an awareness of His presence.
Tomorrow: What makes God smile?
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You were planned for God's pleasure
Imagine this: The moment you were born into this world, God was an unseen witness, smiling at your birth. Rick Warren continues: "He wanted you alive, and your arrival gave Him great pleasure. God did not need to create you, but He chose to create you for His own enjoyment. You exist for His benefit, His glory, His purpose and His delight."
That puts a whole new spin on where I was in my Christian life. Knowing, sure, that everything in my life was part of God's plan, but that my decisions, my chosen paths were sometimes not where God would lead. Knowing now that I am here for His glory, His purpose has put new emphasis on my life as one who strives to be knowledgable of God and to know His will, so I will make the right decisions in everything.
"The Search For Signifigance" made a splash in the Christian book world a few years ago and became a popular study among women. God cannot be enclosed in a book, and the signifigance He gives you and me is awesome. We are that important to God! And He wants us for eternity!
In today's devotion, we learn that one of the greatest gifts that God gave us is the ability to enjoy pleasure. Five senses, all working with emotion to experience pleasure. And the reason He gave us this gift of pleasure is that He created us in His own image! Think about this: God too feels things very deeply. The Bible says that God gets jealous, grieves, gets angry, shows compassion, sorrow, pity and sympathy as well as happiness, gladness and satisfaction.
Bring pleasure to God is called Worship. We discussed this point in our small group meeting tonight, and the concept, if you've never heard of this before, is terriffic. Everything we do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship. Taking the neighbor to the doctor, volunteering at your daughter's school, allowing a car to pass ahead of you through the intersection, helping someone in need; all of these are acts of worship, as you bring pleasure to Him.
The problem can be, though, if we are not bringing pleasure to God with what we are doing, we find a substitute, and that is failing God. Whatever you value most, whatever your passion is, is your god. Notice the small "g," not God.
Worship is not just music (as in the Worship time and the Message being separated in a service,) or a description of a person (i.e. worship leader; shouldn't this be the pastor, and not the music leader?) Worship is a lifestyle, not even just a church service. Every part of a church service is worship too.
Remember this: Worship is not for your benefit. We worship for God's benefit! We can split hairs here, with some people saying "I didn't get anything out of worship today," well, you worshipped for the wrong reason! Don't let the word 'worship' limit you! It is not part of your life, it is your life!
How is it possible to do everything to the glory of God in worship? By doing eveything as if you were doing it all for Jesus and by carrying on a continuing conversation with Him while you are doing it! The Bible says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." Colossians 3:23. And that is the secret of a lifestyle of worship - doing everything as if you were doing it for Jesus. Work becomes worship when you dedicate it to God and perform it with an awareness of His presence.
Tomorrow: What makes God smile?
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