Are You Glorifying God When You Worship?
Good Morning Friends,
Have you become so accustomed to “church” that your heart is not in it? Today’s scripture and devotional calls us to be more than an audience to an inspiring word… more than a spectator to a choral presentation in four parts. We are called to prepare ourselves, to engage body, mind and spirit…to look inward, outward and upward with thanks…to see with awe… to choose to respond to God with a mixture of heartfelt joy and humble reverence. Friends, the way to find rest in the Lord can be personal and private but we miss out on something special in the Spirit if we do not publically take part in worship. When you put God first you can experience rejoicing while you are responding with reverence, you can show forth the reality that God is delighting in you as you are delighting in God. Are You Glorifying God When You Worship?
Scripture: What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness. So also David speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness irrespective of works: ‘Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin.’ Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We say, ‘Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.’ How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.
Romans 4:1-12 (NRSV)
The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go, leave this place, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, “To your descendants I will give it.” I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, or I would consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.’ When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, “You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.” ‘ Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onwards.
Exodus 33:1-6 (NRSV)
O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually. Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgements he has uttered, O offspring of his servant Abraham, children of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is the Lord our God; his judgements are in all the earth. He is mindful of his covenant forever, of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance.’ When they were few in number, of little account, and strangers in it, wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account, saying, ‘Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.’
Psalm 105:1-15 (NRSV)
Message: We miss out on the Promised Land when we make the same mistake the Israelites did. Do not allow your heart to become hard. Keep worship alive. Open yourself to Him as you open the door to your place of worship. Come, listen and open your heart and voice to show others you are delighting in God. In today’s lectionary scripture we see how Abraham’s faith was his salvation and how David humbled himself, confessed his sins to the Lord and was saved. Our salvation is found in Jesus Christ putting our faith in one that is qualified to forgive our sins. This is a corporate activity as much as it is an individual one. Look at all the good stuff God has done: His creation, His miracles, the good He’s done in people and through people. Friends when we get discouraged about church we are to remember and give thanks.
Pray we realize that our worship is to be a witness of God’s grace seeking us. Pray we realize that we are justified by faith in a person, not faith in faith. Pray therefore that we trust Jesus enough to act out our faith in a way that glorifies God. Pray we trust God even when the going gets rough. Pray we give thanks and remember all that God has done and remember the covenant of love and all the people God has involved in His Church. Pray our hearts are circumcised as a witness of God’s covenant of love and grace. Pray we embrace God’s plan of redemption.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 