Principle 1: Praise and Worship naturally ring from those finding fulfillment in their God.
When the Scripture tells us that Christians will worship God in Heaven, many cannot identify with the appeal. Many can find praising God to be rather boring. This simply shows where people are at in their thinking. Some things do not become appreciated until people mature. When I was a child I thought like a child I reasoned like a child, but when I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. When I was a little boy, I thought girls were rather boring. They did not hold my interest like the toys I had. Reaching puberty changed all those sentiments for me. I changed as I matured. What I once found boring all of sudden became a topic of interest for me. The toys I cherished as a boy I eventually set aside. A similar transformation occurs as we spiritually mature. Worship is really the highest form of love a person can have. It means to love something with every fiber of your being. The songs that are sung in church are supposed to be an expression of that love. To sing out of compulsion only implies you do not have this love for God yourself. Paying lip service to God when your heart is far from him is only a vanity. God seeks those who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth. People naturally praise that which they delight in and value. Praise is the natural expression of that enjoyment. When the people in Heaven cry out ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne…’ they will do it with very strong passion and conviction; they cry it out with a very loud voice. They will serve him day and night gladly for they have found Him who truly makes them happy. Those who esteem and glorify Him will become like Him. People naturally emulate those they happen to look up to. God has endowed them with wisdom. They now know who holds the power to give them life. In Heaven, the saints will not hunger or thirst anymore. All craving and lust will cease, when that which truly satisfies is found. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. All suffering and hurt will cease, when the real comforter has been found. So worship will become the natural expression for those who find fulfillment in their God. People should look forward to worshiping God in Heaven knowing that God’s fulfillment of their longings will ultimately stir them to do this. We will come to love Him because He first loved us.
Principle 2: Why placing your worship in all the wrong places is not good for your health.
Worship is really a love that should be restricted to God himself. Some forms of love are not good for your health and should be avoided. Worshipping the wrong things in life is referred to as Idolatry. Idolatry comes from a compound word that means to serve an image. People naturally serve that which they worship. If people worship God they will also naturally serve him. When you put things higher than God, you make it the top priority in your life. Their love for that object becomes a lust that must be had at all costs. Idolaters stop at nothing or no one to chase their dreams. God’s ethics would not stop a person from fulfilling their passions. All People become merely a means to achieving their desired ends. This is how people become corrupt through idolatry. They are empty and dead because they seek life from things that cannot give life. Their addictions make them single minded and self-focused; they have nothing to give and can only take. Anyone who stands in the way of their passions will be viewed with intense hatred. None of this can be good for individuals or society. There is such a thing as loving something too much. Allow something to master you and it can turn you into a sociopath. This is why we are told in Scripture that people should not bow down and make Gods of any created thing. Charity loves someone as they love themselves. Charity is never immoderate in it’s degree. Charity loves another from fulfillment rather than seeks fulfillment from personal depravity. When a person puts God first in their heart, everything else naturally falls into place.
Principle 3: Knowing God is the critical step toward worshiping God.
Knowing the truth is what keeps people from worshiping God. We worship other things precisely because we are blind and do not know God for ourselves. God’s ways are higher than our ways. He tells people to come and simply reason with Him. God promises those who do, can be made white as snow even though their sins were red as scarlet. In short, God is saying you would really change your act if you only knew better. Many will do this and make their robes white in the blood of the lamb. The Bible says we will worship God in the end because we will see him face to face. We will know him as we are fully known. Are you tired of where your life decisions have taken you? Go and listen to God and see what plan He would have for you.
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