“When (Jesus)
came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole
crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the
miracles they had seen: ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of
the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’ Some of the Pharisees in
the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!’ ‘I tell you,’ He
replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out’” (Luke 19:37-40).
The cry of our
hearts is a longing to worship. Yet, what is worship? Webster defines worship
as “to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion.” From this
definition we learn that really, everyone worships something or someone. Sure
not everyone wants to call it worship or even think that that is what they are
doing. But everyone worships something or someone. For some, it is religion.
For others, it’s money. For some it’s fun. For others, it’s success or power,
or science or knowledge, or beauty, or popularity. For some, it’s love or sex.
For some, it’s their family. But the Bible says that all things were made by
Jesus, and for Jesus. This means that we were created to worship. And He is the
only one who is worthy to be worshiped.
Colossians
1:16-17 declares that all things were made by, through and for Jesus.” Thus, we were created by Him, through Him and
ultimately belong to Him. Therefore, He is the only One worthy of our worship.
Furthermore, in Romans 1:21, we discover two consequences of not glorifying or
worshiping God: (1) our thinking becomes futile, (2) our foolish hearts are
darkened.
Through examining
Jesus’ temptation in Matthew 4:10, Ravi Zacharias determined that “plainly put,
worship means ‘reverence and action.’
This is important because worship is ultimately seeing life God’s way.”
(Ravi Zacharias, The Grand Weaver, p. 133). 1 Corinthians 10:31 is a
great verse about seeing all of life God’s way: “So whether you eat or drink or
whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Another great
passage is Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do
it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the
Father through Him.”
Therefore, as you
go throughout life, I want to encourage you to ask the question: “How can I
honor God through this action?” The Baker New Testament Commentary said, “We
are unable to glorify God unless our lives are in harmony with Him and His
precepts. Nothing in our conduct should obstruct God's glory from being
reflected in us. That is, in everything we do and say, no matter how
insignificant, the world should be able to see that we are God's people.
Exalting God's glory ought to be our chief purpose in this earthly life
(compare 1 Peter 4:11).” Thus, our heart’s cry or our chief goal in life is to
worship – just One.
More of Him, less
of me,
Matt
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