Your family. Your job. Your husband or wife. The latest fashions. Your favorite sports team. TV series. Food. Sex. Money. Success. Yourself. These are things we place value in. These things we hold as “important”.
We were all made to worship. It’s in our DNA. The question is…who or what will be the object of your worship?
None of the things just mentioned are immoral. In fact, they’re amoral. They’re morally neutrally until they’re not. The problem becomes when these things become ultimate –when they take the place of God – and thus become idols. We look to something or someone to do for us what God is meant to do for us. Anything at all can become an idol once it becomes a substitute for God in our lives.
The truth is…God wants US. He wants our worship.
"God isn't interested in competing against others or being first among many…He is not interested in being president of the board. He is the board. And life doesn’t work until everyone else sitting around the table in the boardroom of your heart is fired. He is God, and there are no other applicants for that position… God is not saying this because he is insecure but because it’s the way of truth in this universe… He is the only God who can help us, direct us, satisfy us, save us." - Kyle Idleman, Gods at War
God wants to be FIRST and ONLY in our lives. He has fought hard to show us that. He gave His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, for us and for our sins. He hasn’t stopped pursuing us, and He never will. Will we choose to follow Him and give Him all of ourselves?
Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper WORSHIP.”
We worship God by keeping Jesus at the CENTER of our lives. We keep Jesus at the center of our lives by surrendering ALL of ourselves to Him.
Worship, then, is this…to honor God with extravagant love and extreme submission with a whole-life response to who He is and what He has done.
When we worship God by keeping Jesus at the center of our lives and as our #1 priority…
- We experience His presence more fully.
- God transforms us to become like Jesus.
- We live our destiny as difference makers in the world.
Worship as our #1 priority is how we stay ready and committed to be difference makers.
Do you want to be a difference maker?
Is worshipping God your number one priority?
Is Jesus Christ the center of your life?
It’s easy to say yes to those questions. BUT if we're honest, many of us have offered, dedicated, and surrendered all of ourselves to someone or something else…thus making that the center of our lives and the object of our worship. Whenever that happens, whatever that thing is for us, it draws our hearts away from Him and His destiny for us to be difference makers for Him in this world.
Who or what in your life is dominating your time, money, affections, and efforts?
Pray through that question this week. When you pray through that question and are convicted of something, choose totake the next step.
It’s not going to be easy. In fact, it’s likely going to be really difficult, and it will probably hurt. That’s why worship is called a sacrifice. But I promise you this…it WILL be WORTH IT! Living a life for Jesus is—and will be—worth it. He is BETTER than anything or anyone else you can imagine. Let Him show you.
Will you choose to make worshipping God your #1 priority and put Jesus at the center of your life?