Living By Design

In our exploration of the meaning and significance of worship, we’ve discovered in Scripture so far that worship is the acknowledgment of God’s worth.  Worship is a complementary combination of attitude and action.  Our attitude of reverence and awe on the inside expresses itself in actions of service to God on the outside. 

When I first began to absorb this understanding of worship, new horizons opened up in my thinking.  Worship is not a time slot on my calendar; it’s a very big thing, and if I miss out on it, I make a huge mistake.

With these new horizons came practical implications. For example, while it might be more convenient to lock worship into a Sunday morning slot and get it over with for the week, it became clear that a one- or two-hour pit stop at church on Sunday could not satisfy all that worship entails. If I wanted to be a true worshiper, I needed to make worship a lifestyle.

As we will see in the coming messages, when we allow worship to soak into and nourish our hearts and lifestyles, God is exalted. But we benefit as well: Life takes on an interesting, energizing dynamic unachievable any other way. This is our design! We were born to worship, created to celebrate our Creator.

In fact, a perusal of scripture—which we’ll sample in a moment—reveals that the key to fulfillment in life is its orientation to worship: To the extent that my life is worship-centered, it will be fulfilling.

The converse is also true: To the extent that my life is non-worship-centered, it will be eccentric. That is, it will be off-centered, deviant from the true center. Perverted. Abused. Misused. That, I guarantee, will produce extreme stress, frustration and unfulfillment.  And if this be so, how desperately we need to improve our worship.

But how?  Let’s begin an answer to that question now.

Lifestyle worship lives out the attitude and action inherent in worship.  Lifestyle worship may be pictured as having three components. The first of these is love.

In John 13:34-35, Christ says that Christians should be distinguished from the crowd by their love.  Here are His words: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

In 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, God shows us that our performance effectiveness is measured by our love:  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

In Matthew 22:34-40, Christ says that the remedy for the disease of religious legalism is love. One day He was approached by a group of Pharisees, themselves the epitome of bondage to religious trappings. They asked Him, as a test question, which law was the greatest.

Christ looked at their smugness, sensing the worry of watching worshipers about violating the long to-do and not-to-do lists that these religious leaders supported. He knew the frustration of those who had given up on the religious system in despair. Filled with compassion, Christ quickly cut through the red tape:
'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hand all the Law and the Prophets."

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by a list that became law? Maybe your music teacher supplied it, or your tennis coach. Maybe your parents. Maybe your church. Lists suffocate love. We can become so intrigued with technique that we miss the heart of the matter. In giving us the great commandment, God directs our attention to love so that we can replace our reliance upon lists with our reliance upon love.  When the love of God inspires and directs our action, we are worshiping and God is glorified as He deserves.

This love is a heart condition. It is an attitude of willful devotion that manifests itself honorably in a variety of situations:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails. If you and I recognize and internalize the reality of this truth about love, we will simplify, prioritize and thereby energize our lives. We will worship.  As we peel away the superficial checklists one by one, we can get to the heart of life.  When we love God as He wants us to, the rest of life falls into its place. And we can do this with or without prefabricated lists of what to do or what not to do.

May you walk through the day ahead, not with a list in your hand, but with God’s love in your heart.

© 2007 John Garmo. If you would be interested in using this article, please contact us at Info@MissionToChildren.org.