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Worship.
This word flies around the church as much as drama flies around a high school. But what does it really mean? How much of what you hear is true, and how much is the watered-down, through-the-grapevine version? I would challenge you to dig past the shallow definition of worship as the time of singing before the sermon. What does worship look like between Sundays? Outside of service?
What if I told you that worship was simply “laying something at the feet of the Lord”? That it didn’t matter what that thing was as long as you were presenting it to Him?
Look at Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” NIV So the question is “what is a living sacrifice”?
A sacrifice in old testament times was when a farmer would pick the very best of his sheep, goats, cattle or birds to kill at the altar for the atonement of their sins. Atonement meaning that they were trying to pay for what they’d done according to the way God had told them to pay. But we don’t have to kill anything anymore to pay for our sins, because Jesus was the final sacrifice. His death and resurrection accomplished more than any sacrifice made by human hands. He was the fulfillment of the law.
Because animal sacrifices are no longer required for the atonement of our sins, the sacrifices we bring become worship because they are not a requirement. We don’t have to give God the best of what we have, but when we lay it at His feet THAT is our spiritual act of worship.
How do I know it can be anything? Take a look at Psalm 51:16-17 “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God you will not despise.” NIV We can see that God is concerned with our hearts, He simply wants US. What we bring is of no matter to Him, it’s how we bring it.
So a “living sacrifice” is US. Laying the very way we live our lives at His feet.