The Lifestyle of Worship

Worship is a lifestyle of sacrifice. Paul wrote in Romans 12 about being a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Paul continues his thought on worship saying that attaining this lifestyle comes from not being conformed but transformed by the renewing of your mind. Paul also poses the question of, “What captivates your thoughts?”

Is Jesus the center of your thought life?

The sad fact is most of us would say no, Jesus is not the center of my thought life or the center of my life at all. We have conformed to the cultural standards that a relationship with Jesus only happens on Sundays or Wednesdays. The cultural standard says a relationship with Jesus works when it is convenient and when God does what I ask Him to do.  I believe that there is a scary trend in our culture that faith or “going to church” is the next fade. In our current situation people are flocking to church/religion, but for what reasons? Is it truly for hope, peace, faith, a relationship with Jesus? I cannot be the judge of that person’s intentions, but I do know that the “Church” has a tremendous opportunity to preach the Gospel and speak well of Jesus.

So, let us not conform any longer, but be transformed into a lifestyle of worship. Students and adults alike need to defy the trends of the culture and start living by the word of God. Let’s make scripture the lens that we live life from. If we will transform our thought life to run everything through the lens of scripture, our world will become more of a representation of the Gospel. We will accomplish Matthew 28:19 and Acts 1:8. We will push the kingdom of God forward instead of building our own kingdoms where we sit on the throne of laziness and complacency. Our current culture needs Hope! Hope has a name and His name is Jesus.

I am always intrigued by scripture and the events that happened. In Mark, there is an account of Jairus, a synagogue leader than comes to Jesus asking Him to heal his daughter. Jesus, on the way to Jairus’ house, feels someone touch his cloak. The scripture says that large crowds were following Jesus to watch the miracles He was performing and listening to His teachings. Amongst the crowd, someone reached out and touched Him. I would imagine this was a pretty normal occurrence, but there was something different about this touch that made Jesus stop and turn around. Scripture says that a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years touched Jesus’ cloak in hopes to be healed. No big deal, right? Well, I think it needs a little more investigation. I think there are some really important lessons we could learn if we will stop and look to see what scripture is offering us. Culturally the woman should not have been there. She had been to many doctors and they could not figure out why she was bleeding. She would have been considered unclean and not welcomed in town. But the one quality of the woman is her persistence to get close to Jesus. I often ask myself that question, when the odds are stacked against me, when the culture condemns me, am I willing to continue pursuing Jesus. Am I hungry for the Lord? I believe that is why Jesus turns around. Jesus says, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” I think Jesus knew all the obstacles, the suffering, and the faith it took to reach out.  I want that kind of hunger for Jesus.

Jesus has afforded His disciples to go speak on His behalf, but the reality is are you speaking for Jesus, the Gospel, or are you speaking your own form of religion that puts you at the center and the deity to be worshipped? I want a faith where I fall at the feet of Jesus just like the suffering woman did.  I want a faith that I worship Jesus only. Not what culture demands or the next trend, but a lifestyle of sacrifice for the King of Kings!