Editor’s Note: We continue our series of blogs for those who are reading the Bible with us cover-to-cover this year. Interspersed with our thoughts on our daily reading, we want to provide some tips about reading the Bible in general. Today we want to explore …
Does My Worship Transform Me?
We have just finished reading the book of Leviticus – the book of worship for the Old Testament God-followers. Their worship was to “set them apart” from the rest of the people on the planet. The question for us at this point is: “Does my worship transform me?” “Do I change as a result of being in God’s presence?”
As you worship God with God’s people in the coming weeks, look for two things: (1) Look to see if your attitude is correct, and (2) Look to see if you have changed as a result of being in worship of God!
o Look One: Is my attitude correct? Many people today complain that they don’t get anything out of the corporate worship services of their church. One of the major reasons for this is them! When you come to worship this week, ask yourself these simple questions about your attitude …
§ Am I here to receive God’s leadership for my life this week?
§ Am I here to distinguish the lifestyle of God and the lifestyle of the people around me?
§ Am I here to sacrifice the ways I live that don’t lead to life – according to God – for the abundance God wants to give me?
§ Am I here to change – and thereby experience life to the fullest from God?
o Look Two: Have I changed as I leave my worship of God? True God-worship brings about core changes. Can you see any of these in your life? Or more, can those who know you best see these changes?
§ Can anyone see my passion to pursue faith as a result of my worship of the living and true God today?
§ Can anyone see my passion to pursue moral excellence as a result of my worship of the living and true God today?
§ Can anyone see my passion to pursue knowing God better as a result of my worship of the living and true God today?
§ Can anyone see my passion to pursue self-control as a result of my worship of the living and true God today?
§ Can anyone see my passion to pursue patient endurance as a result of my worship of the living and true God today?
§ Can anyone see my passion to pursue godliness as a result of my worship of the living and true God today?
§ Can anyone see my passion to pursue love for other Christians as a result of my worship of the living and true God today?
§ Can anyone see my passion to pursue love for everyone as a result of my worship of the living and true God today?
It is our hope that this background information helps a bit as you read on in the Bible. We will continue this series with our next installment: “How to Pack for our Journey Through the Bible” on Tuesday when we talk about “Traveling Light on the Journey.”
For daily insights into the passage we are reading together each day, you can follow Dr. Smith on Twitter and on Facebook.
You can obtain more help from the FREE Bible reading schedule on our resource page. In His Image is a daily devotional that also follows our reading schedule and expresses the Biblical truth: “God Created You to Love You.” You can find this resource on the side bar of our website.
This blog is extremely important to the Christian walk. I have found that those who complain about the worship in their Sunday services, are the ones who depend on this worship to make it through another week. If they are having a daily worship and meditation time with the Lord, they are fed before they get to church. I see our Sabbath worship time a time to worship God alone. We should walk away feeling assured that it was all about God not “me”. Our daily worship time should be what feeds our soul.