“Who Will We Worship?”

"Who Will We Worship?"

     We all must have a god, either the living and true One, or a false version of human, worldly, and devilish origin.

    "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen" (Romans 1:22-25).

    Worship is innate in human hearts.  We all affix ourselves to something outside ourselves that guides, influences, and controls us.  We may not realize that we do so, and we may think we control our own lives.  Nothing could be further from the truth, however, because whatever outside ourselves motivates our attitudes and actions rules us rather than our ruling it.  "Thou shalt worship the Lord, and Him only shalt thou serve… Jesus answered them and said, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin" (Matthew 4:10; John 8:34).

    Who will we worship?  The living and true God?  Or idols?  The question involves life and death, truth and reality, good and evil, joy and sorrow, peace and turmoil, mercy and judgment.  Again, no possibility exists that we will not worship, that we will not allow ourselves to be governed by someone or something outside ourselves.  We will worship.  Thus, we must consider this spiritual reality as the most important matter of our lives, first by being born again through faith in the Son of the living and true God.  "We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3).  We then seek to live in the reality of our freely given salvation that makes possible freely given capacity to worship the true God.  "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6).   Even as believers, we may or may not rightly worship.  However, the power of Christ dwells within us to enable the potential of a life lived in loving devotion to the only object of worship that enlivens us in the light of reality.  "Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God" (Isaiah 44:6).  All other gods are not really gods.  They might as well be, however, to those who worship that which destroys rather than delivers.  Yes, we all must have a god to whom we bow, and who subsequently guides, controls, and leads us to either life or death.

"For all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens."

(I Chronicles 16:26)

"The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth."

(John 4:23)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

(Philippians 4:20)

"Immortals"

"Immortals"

     God exists as an eternal being who entered into time for the purpose of ushering temporal human beings into eternity.

    "We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (II Corinthians 4:18).

    Walking in the Spirit requires that we view life and reality in a different manner than we are naturally disposed to do.  The passage of moments dominates the realm of our original physical birth.  The clock commands our earthly lifetime, requiring that we orient our doings and our schedules to its never-ceasing progression from then until now, and from now until later.  "Time marches on" as the saying goes.  We do not always consciously think of this temporal master, but it always abides with us, making its demands and forcing its effects upon us.  Nevertheless, God calls His trusting children in Christ to perceive our existence in terms beyond the clock.  We still live our lives in time's realm, and we must order our present lives accordingly.  As those who are "not in the flesh, but in the Spirit", however, we view God, ourselves, others, and life in terms beyond the mere passage of moments (Romans 8:9).  We make choices to fix our gaze upon eternal things that are not seen, believing that the "from everlasting to everlasting" Lord Jesus Christ entered into and embraced time for the purpose of injecting the glories of forever into our hearts and lives.  "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3).

   In practical terms, this simply means that we live our present lives in the remembrance and affirmation that another and greater realm transcends the natural.  We realize that every human being will exist eternally, either in the joyous life of Christ, or the sorrowful death of Christlessness.  Indeed, time is not the primary reality of any person despite our present experience in this lesser realm.  We are all immortals, again either happily or unhappily.  Our relationship to the eternal Lord who entered the temporal determines our experience of the greater realm.  Moreover, His trusting children greatly influence others as we live our lives in the light of eternity.  The Gospel beckons the slaves of the tyrannical clock to become the sons and daughters of the timeless Christ.   Our attitudes, demeanor, words, and actions go far in impacting our particular sphere of influence.  As we make our choices to "look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen", we lead others to the One who makes such a perspective of peace possible.  Indeed, time may march on, but the risen Christ of eternity enables us to rise above the dusty paths of the temporal and to soar beyond, leading others with us.

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord."

(Psalm 106:48).

"Thou wilt show me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore."

(Psalm 16:11)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

(Philippians 4:20)

"It's Me Again"

(Friends: our family currently rejoices in the newest addition, Ewan Quan Davis, our grandson.  This has led me to the gratefully recall the innumerable moments we've had with our grandson Jackson and granddaughter Emma, soon to be 10 and 9.  Here's one of those moments, a devotional I wrote in 2010.)

"It's Me Again"

     After an overnight visit recently, I called our grandchildren Jackson (3) and Emma (2) to tell them we had enjoyed their time with us.  Emma's not yet much of a phone person (give her time!), but Jackson is quite the little conversationalist. We had a nice discussion, and then he let me know he needed to go (important 3 year old matters to address, no doubt). "Bye, Granddaddy… Bye, Jackson."

   About 5 minutes after hanging up, my phone rang. "It's me again" said the little voice on the other end of the line. Jackson had thought of something else to tell me, and it thrilled my heart that he called again. We talked for another minute or two, told each other "I love you," and I hung up knowing that God had blessed me in a most special way. "It's me again."  There was just something about those words, and then it hit me.

    "The prayer of the upright is His delight" (Proverbs 15:8).

   The believer's life involves a continual saga of "It's me again, Lord".  Doubtless, God's delights more in our response to Him than I experienced with Jackson.  I am convinced  that we do not consider enough the joy our Heavenly Father finds in our communion with Him. We tend to focus on what prayer does for us rather than on what it does in Him. Since God is a being without need, and perfectly fulfilled in His triune Personhood, we may think that we bring little to the table of our relationship with Him.  As the Psalmist wondered, "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4).

   Nothing could be further from the truth. God gave His Son to a cross of shame, agony, forsakenness, and death in order to secure a place in our hearts, and prayers from us that literally delight His heart. Hearing "It's me again" from my grandson formed a blessed memory that will be with me always. Hearing "It's me again, Lord" from His trusting children in Christ forms an even greater blessing in the heart of the Father who would say to all of us in this moment and forevermore...

"O My dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice."

(Song of Solomon 2:14)

"The Lord taketh pleasure in His people."

(Psalm 149:4) 

Weekly Memory Verse

   Now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

(Philippians 4:20)