by Joshua Holec
4. December 2008 19:14
Living a life of worship to the true God yields
countless benefits to the worshiper. She will soar above the burdens
of shame, anxiety, fear, doubt, and depression to name a few. She will
not be tossed around and abused by the false gods of image, pleasure,
and substitute acceptance. She will experience victory over bad
attitudes and skewed perspectives that pin people down.
In the context of worship, God’s word says that “Light is shed upon the
righteous and joy on the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, you
who are righteous, and praise his holy name” Psalm 97:11-12.
Worship (to the true God) is the greatest activity available to us. It
is arrayed with benefits (Psalm 103:2). Yet the benefit we experience
is not the bedrock reason for our worship. In fact worship is not
about us at all. It is not about what we can get from God, or how he
can make us feel in his presence. Like we sing in the song “I will not
forget you”, “My sacrifice is not what you can give, but what I alone
can give to you”.
We worship God because of who He is. His greatness is beyond
description and his intimate love for us without limit. Worship is a
wonderful debt gladly brought by creatures lovingly wrought and
redeemed. “We were created by him and for him” says Colossians 1:16,
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together”, and on
top of all that, “He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and
brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have
redemption, the forgiveness of sins” Colossians 1:13-14.
As creatures, we owe a debt of worship to our creator just for the mere
fact of our existence. To refuse to acknowledge him as God, and our
selves as his debtors is to harden our hearts in rebellion. Rebellion
against God separates us from intimacy with God; separation from his
presence, from his goodness, from his life that we so desperately need.
“Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave
thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish
hearts were darkened…they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and
worshiped and served created things rather than the creator who is
forever praised. Amen” (Romans 1:21,25).
We all worship. If not God, we’ll worship our selves or someone else.
So, “Why Worship God”? Worship God because he made you, he died in
your place to save you, and if you don’t worship him your heart will
grow hard and you will be given over to sin. Worship Him.
