Genesis 12:8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.
Worship is giving God the best that He has given you.
Chambers opens today’s message with a simple call to worship. A call to give back to God some of the best of what he’s given us. Worship is more than singing a song or saying a prayer, though it is certainly those things. Worship is giving out of any gift that we are given. Our monetary tithes are an act of worship, the giving of our time is an act of worship, using our talents, whatever they may be, for His glory is an act of worship. Chambers goes on to say:
Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard a thing for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded. God will never let you hold a spiritual thing for yourself, it has to be given back to Him that He may make it a blessing to others.
We have been given so much, and sometimes it is all too easy to keep those things for ourselves. But when I consider the overwhelming blessings I’ve received from the Father, I have to ask myself: Am I truly giving out of all I’ve been given? Considering the tremendous blessings I’ve received from God, how much of a blessing am I to those around me? To honestly answer this question is humbling indeed.
Chambers explains that Bethel is a symbol of communion with God, and Ai is a symbol of the world. That Abraham pitched his tent between the two is significant. There has to be a place where our communion with God meets our life in the world. They cannot be separate from each other.
The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.
How often have we become so consumed with our “public activity” that we neglect our private communion? We find ourselves rushed, busy, perhaps even overwhelmed, and rather than step back our public efforts, we allow our private time with the Lord to suffer. But how effective can our work for the Lord really be if we fail to spend adequate time in His presence? Without time on our knees before the Father, “his” work becomes OUR work, and what was once done for His glory can all too often be done in search of glory for ourselves.
As believers we need to worship God with the best of what He’s blessed us with. Making our private communion with our Lord a priority helps us keep perspective on what that act of worship looks like and puts us in the proper frame of mind to be a blessing to those around us.
This is a theme I have been pondering for several months -- secular vs. sacred. The two should not be separate in the life of a Christ-follower. EVERYTHING should be sacred, because everything we say or do is to be an offering to Him. Yes, we are IN the world, and I am certainly not advocating disengaging from our culture (because therein we can lead people to Christ!) -- but our mind-set must be one in which whatever we do is a love offering unto God. We must have constant, ongoing communion with Him, and out of THAT relationship pours streams of living water to refresh everyone around us!
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