What God Wants from You -- Part 2
And so, dear 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 holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. ~ Romans 12:1
In my last blog, I discussed how God wants us to give Him glory. Today, we see that God wants us to also give Him worship...but not worship in the way you might instinctively think of it.
To help understand what "worship" really means, allow me to take you back to a strange and mystical time known as “The 1980s.” During that decade, I became a teenager and shared life with another teenager—my younger sister Stephanie.
If you were around in the 1980s, then you know that the cordless phone was invented during this time. No longer were we confined to that ten-foot cord on the kitchen phone. We could actually walk around the house! Of course, the phone was so heavy we could only walk so far before needing to sit and rest, but I digress…
The 1980s was also the decade of big hair. Desiring to look their best, ladies went through cans of hairspray by the case. Hairspray, I might add, is also central to one of my most enduring high school memories. In 11th grade chemistry class, a big haired young lady got too friendly with a Bunsen burner and…SCHWOOP! In about 1.4 seconds, her hair plumed into a smoky fire ball, sending the singed girl to the nurse and the class into hysterics. But, again, I digress…
Finally, the 1980s was the decade when the boy band New Kids on the Block commanded the airwaves. Now, why do I risk horrific flashbacks to bring them up, you ask? Well, my sister worshiped this boy band. Her life was literally consumed by them!
Stephanie bought every album and cassette tape (remember albums and cassette tapes) that group produced. If NKOTB put it out, she bought it. I could sing the song, “Hangin’ Tough”—which I hated—because I literally heard it 5,000 times. You may think I’m exaggerating, but I’m serious--5000 times!
She had NKOTB t-shirts, hats, jackets, socks, etc. If there was an article of clothing with their faces on it, my sister had it! As if all that wasn’t bad enough, she woke up with them too. Cereal! NKOTB cereal? Whaaaaat? You can’t be serious. Oh my friends, I am serious!
And did I mention she had all their dolls as well as a plastic music stage on which to set them up? Because she did.
Again, why do I drudge up all these painful memories? Well, I do so for two important reasons. The first is to remind you that everyone worships something. Understand that worship is something that God has hard-wired into us. We were all created not only to give God glory but also to worship Him.
We, of course, are free to opt out of worshiping God. However, because we are hard-wired to worship, we will all end up worshiping something in His place. It could be a singer or a band. It could be a sport or a hobby. It could be a job, or pornography, or money. It could be one of a thousand things, but you will worship something.
This leads us to point #2. Worship is all consuming.
Now, do you remember when I said earlier that God wants us to give Him worship but not worship as we tend to think of it? Look at Romans 12:1 again. And so, dear 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 holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
From this verse, it is plain to see that worship is not simply singing some songs and telling God, “I think You’re great!” It is so much more than that. Worship is giving yourself over to God--your whole self over to Him. Worship is telling the Lord, “Here I am! Take me. I am all yours.”
Worship is only truly worship when it is all consuming.
My sister woke up with NKOTB--and their cereal. She then clothed herself in them through socks, shirts, jackets, etc. She spent her money to buy all their stuff, played with their toys, and went to bed with their faces imprinted on her bed sheets. It was all day and all consuming.
This is what God wants from you. He wants you to be all consumed by Him. He wants you to live and breathe Him. He wants you to wake up with Him. He wants you to be clothed with His righteousness and His love.
He wants you to use your resources to further His Kingdom. He wants you to spend your day doing His will. And He wants you to finish up the day knowing that you gave your all for Him.
Are you ready to worship like that today...and everyday?
