Worship: A Thing of Honor

I have often thought about the true meaning of worship.  As much as I love to sing and play instruments, that is definitely not the only way to worship.  But how do we present our bodies as "living sacrifices", as the apostle says in Romans, in a practical way.  Sometimes it seems so abstract.  But sometimes it seems so basic, mundane.

About 5 years ago, as I was recovering from an accident and learning to walk again, I attended a study abroad program during which we read Colossians every day for three weeks straight.  Before I left, I visited my doctor for another check up.  As he watched me walk (which was more a feeble limp) around his office, he said, "You need to act like you are healed.  Just walk like everything is fine.  Everything else will come together.  You'll be fine."

I went to the program and did everything I could to apply this thought (including play ultimate frisbee, much to the chagrin of some friends). But about half through the program it hit me: when it comes to our faith, we're just supposed to walk.  Paul says, "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him..." (Colossians 2:6).  There is no pomp and circumstance or any abstract thought to grasp.  It's just that basic.  Walk in Jesus.  And as someone who just recently became infinitely grateful to walk, I appreciated duality of just how difficult and simple this can be.

But by no means is it mundane.  Paul tells us:

"For in [Christ] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.  And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him..." (Colossians 1:19-22, emphasis added)

Jesus' death made our worship possible.  He made our spiritual walk possible.  As simple as it may now be to walk, without Jesus' sacrifice intended to give us the ability to know Him, we would not be healed from our "evil deeds" and therefore unable to walk in Him.

And we don't just walk with Him watching at a distance.  Jesus died so we can enter the presence of the most high God.

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh...let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith..." (Hebrews 10:19-22, emphasis added)

When we walk, we walk with the Creator of the Universe, the God of Justice, the Redeemer by our side.  We walk in the presence of God.  How could I have ever thought that mundane?  We are constantly and continually honored with the presence of God.  But somehow this is forgotten.

But as we approach Good Friday and Easter, let us not forgot why Jesus walked.  He walked so that we may walk with Him.

"And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.  This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.  He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him." (Colossians 2:13-15, emphasis added)

He did it all so that we could be "made alive together with Him".  He wanted to be with us.  He loved us so much that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice for us so that we would not be separated from Him (John 3:16).  "[Jesus] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." (Col. 1:13)

Jesus did this.  The Son of God. The only perfect man ever to live.  Jesus Christ.

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through Him and for Him.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  And He is the head of the body, the church.  He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might preeminent.  For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross." (Colossians 1:15-20, emphasis added)