When I feed myself to satisfy myself I worship myself. When I feed myself to take care of the body God has given me, I worship Him.
When I chose to spend my time doing things that serve my purposes, I worship myself. When I spend my time doing what serves the kingdom of God, I worship Him.
When I work to make money for the things I want or to find personal significance or for prestige I worship myself. When I work to accomplish the things He has given me to do and to provide for the people and things He has placed in my care, I worship Him.
How I spend my time and money, how I treat people, how I take care of my possessions, how I nurture and take care of my body… these are all opportunities for worshipping either the created or the Creator.
“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of births and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
~Romans 1:21-25
When I exchange the truth of God {that He created and sustains everything} for a lie {that I am the center of my own universe}, He isn’t going to force me to worship Him. He will let me have my way when I insist upon it. But when I look at what that gets me, I don’t really want my own way.
When I eat to satisfy my appetite, I become unhealthy and suffer the consequences.
When I spend my time serving my purposes, my life is empty of meaning and purpose.
When I work to make money for the things I want or to find personal significance or for prestige, I can never get enough.
How do I avoid the trap of the lie?
Honor Him as God and give thanks.
The first step is to honor Him as God and Creator by recognizing that all I have is from Him. My health, my family, my stuff, my time… He made it, He sustains it, He gives it all as a gift to me. It belongs to Him, I just get the privilege of taking care of it for a little while. The second step is to give thanks. Gratitude changes everything. It puts things back into perspective. It puts me back into the proper position to worship the Creator.
As the New Year approaches I am looking forward to resetting my perspective by denying myself and my appetites in pursuit of Him through a time of fasting. Do you need to refocus your life and your worship to set the course for your 2016? Feel free to join me!
Fast & Pray 2016: January 3-17
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