As we worship
God, we give Him ourselves. Romans 12:1 says, "I beseech
you therefore, brethern, by the mercies of God, that you present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which
is your reasonable service." Under the Old Testament some
of the Jews were not offering their best and were condemned for
it. In Malachi 1:8 we read, "And when you offer the blind
as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and
sick, is it not evil?" Is it not just as evil today when
we do not give God our best?
Under the New Testament we do not offer animal sacrifices
as the Jews did under the Old Testament; but we give Him our
lives in service to Him as a living sacrifice. In doing this
we must give Him our all. Anything we do for God must be our
very best. Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:37, "You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul,
and all your mind." All our heart, soul, and mind, or
in other words, our total being must be in our worship.
How do we show our love to God? Our Lord says in John 14:21, "He
who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves
Me." We show our love to God when we keep His commandments.
We do not show our love to God if we only keep the commandments
we want to keep or if we add some of our own commandments.
In Matthew 28:18, before Christ ascended into heaven, He was
giving His apostles some last minute instructions concerning
those they would baptize. Jesus said, "Teaching them to
observe all things that I have commanded you." Everything
the Lord has commanded us is to be observed. We are to do all
that God says and in the way He says to do it. Jesus says in
Luke 6:46, "But why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do
not the things which I say?"
In worship we must do all God has commanded and we must not
do anything He has not authorized. Our worship must be from
the heart with all reverence and sincerity. We must give Him
our very best. Then and only then will we be worshipping God "in
spirit and in truth". The purpose and holiness of true
worship to God is a precious privilege available only to those
who are obedient to the will of God.