It’s true that I don’t usually settle for “because”, or “it
just is.” I am constantly questioning
why. This has been both a struggle and
source of understanding throughout the past three months. Mostly because sometimes God tells me “why”
before I do something, sometimes while I am doing something, sometimes after I
have done something, and sometimes he just doesn’t answer – or at least he
hasn’t yet. In all of it I have to be
obedient, but it isn’t always easy.
I sat down to write a blog about obedience nearly two weeks
ago. God was beginning to teach me – and
every time I sat down to write, he taught me more. The more he teaches, the more I think he
teaches me things so that I can share them with others – including all of you
who read this blog. What’s funny is that
writing this blog has not been easy for me.
First, it has caused me to dive deep into a lot of stuff that is messy
and confusing and frustrating. Really
studying God and the Bible is tiring and prayer can be exhausting – especially
when it is nearly impossible for me to accept the “easy” or quick answer. Let’s just say it’s not a short process.
Secondly, there are plenty of people who like reading stories and updates about
adventures and ministry and I promise there are more of those on the way. However, there aren’t as many people who like
reading about doctrine and theology, especially on topics like obedience that
can often be convicting. In fact, as of
now, about half as many people have read the blog about obedience as usually
read my blogs. I don’t write the blog
for numbers, or even to be convicting, but it’s an interesting trend. Maybe it’s just a coincidence. But maybe not. I don’t want to read too much into it. And while it isn’t always easy or popular to
step out and publish the things I believe for just anyone to read – God is
growing me in boldness and I am learning to embrace that in obedience. This blog is kind of long, and it isn’t exactly a light read, but I do believe it is important, and has helped me grow a lot, so I’m gonna throw it out there. here goes…
There is more. God was downloading information into my brain
for over a week. Some of it is just an understanding
that I have no idea how to express verbally.
A lot of it can best be summarized by God connecting the dots between
various truths I have heard and known and believed on their own, but now collectively
make so much more sense.
Continuing on the thread of obedience, the last blog
concluded with the idea that we are obedient because we love God and it is an
act of worship. Naturally, it didn’t
stop there. Why worship? And really, in the big picture, what is
worship?
I believe that worship is our purpose. It is the very thing we were created to
do. It is more than singing or dancing
or painting or speaking. Worship is
reflecting God’s love back on himself by glorifying and praising him through
our being. It is a way of life. All created things do it, and as created
beings, we do as well. I believe this is
what the Psalmist means when he says, “The heavens declare the glory of
God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth
speech; night after night they display knowledge.” (Psalm 19) All of Psalm 148 speaks about creation’s
praise for God. Paul echoes this in
Romans, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His
eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from
what has been made…” (Romans 1:20)
In Luke (19) Jesus even says that if his disciples are quiet the stones
themselves will cry out. All created
things reflect the glory of God.
The difference for us, is that we can choose whether we live
a life of 
worship or not. We will all
worship eventually – “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and
every tongue shall give praise to God.” (Romans 14:11) And it is here that people begin to miss the
point. Many people, at this point in the
process, get angry that God has placed this over all of us. That he has required this of us. That he has determined our purpose and it is
to glorify him and only him. Our first,
human reaction, is sometimes to think, “this God must be pretty full of himself
to make people for the sole purpose of praising him. Is a good God really that arrogant and
narcissistic?” And this is what I mean
by missing the point. As I said in the
first blog, God did not create us to worship because he needs it, or because he
is arrogant or narcissistic – he is not.
He made us that way because it is the greatest thing he could have done
for us. God has done it for our
good. God is love and the greatest place
we can be is in that love. And because
in our obedient worship, He brings us closer to that love, creating us to
worship is the greatest, most fulfilling purpose we could have.
I think it is important to reiterate that worship is not the
source of our salvation or redemption, but the result of it. It is the response. If a lamp is turned on, it produces light. If you think you’ve turned a lamp on, but no
light comes from it, you haven’t actually turned it on. For the sake of brevity I’ll paraphrase from
Ephesians. Paul starts in Ephesians by
saying that because God loved us even while in sin, we are saved by grace
through faith, not works – but that we are created in Christ Jesus for good
works (Eph. 2:4-10). He continues to say
that if this is true, and we really want to be followers of Jesus, we must put
off our old selves and renew our minds – putting on our new self, our rightful
self, created in the likeness of God
(Eph 4:21-24). We are to be
imitators of God, walking in love as Christ – making our lives an offering and
sacrifice to God (Eph 5:1,2). Finally,
in all good things we do, “giving thanks always and for everything to God the
Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of
reverence for Christ.” (Eph. 5:20,21)
Doing the good things we were created to do out of our respect, awe, and
veneration for Christ – because that is our worship. Can I make this any clearer? It’s everywhere over and over.
Finally, this is only emphasized by the fact that a life of
worship makes us happy. 
It only makes
sense that when we do the thing we were created to do, we are more
fulfilled. It is, by nature and
definition, fulfillment. Does that mean
that life is easy or pleasurable all the time the way we usually think of “pleasures”
in life? No. In fact, it’s probably the opposite. I think that’s why Paul uses words like “death”
and “sacrifice” to describe this new life and why he says, “I count everything
as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all
things and count them as trash, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in
him…”. (Philippians 3:7-9) It is hard, but it’s worth it in order that we may be in Christ – submerged in the love of God.
Worship is us doing what we were created to do so that we
can experience the very thing we need the most – the love of God. Amazing.
God really is really good.
