God is concerned with our worship. It is not something He considers to be optional in our daily life and practice. In fact, the Father seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. (John 4) I find it amazing that God would seek our worship, but just as a father desires the love of his children, so the Lord desires our worship. God created us for His pleasure (Rev. 4:11), and He paid the costliest ransom to rescue us from sin so that we might spend eternity in awesome adoration of God.
Some think that Christ came to save us from bad habits, to keep us from going to hell or to prepare for us an eternal place in heaven. While these are all true, the ultimate purpose of Christ’s death was to return us to worship. Jesus reiterated this without hesitation in Matthew 22:36-38. When asked which is the great commandment in the law, He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (RSV) Notice that Jesus did not say you shall serve the Lord our God – we must place worship above serving.
We do new believers a grave injustice when we immediately make workers out of them, involving them in all sorts of Christian service. First, we need to coach these believers in the art of worship, and then they can become workers. An even greater tragedy exists in the case of many saints who have been saved for years but have seldom, if ever, entered into true worship. We must be cognizant and obedient to the supreme priority God has given us. Loving the Lord by loving others is not sufficient. We must love Him directly. Having established our love for Him, we can then “feed the sheep.”
It was God who made the first move in creating us, and the second move in redeeming us. He made us as much like himself as He could. We are fashioned in His image in order that we might worship Him. As Christians, our plans are only successful to the degree that they correspond with God’s will for our life. Why not get in on His ultimate aim for mankind? Be a worshiper of God!
Don McMinn, Ph.D. (with Kimberly Spring)
Executive Director of theiPlace.org
Entering His Presence: Experiencing the joy of true worship