so what is worship? one of my biggest passions is to clearly represent myself to God with my life. as the title states, “barefoot worship,” our worship should be exactly that; what we present to God should be who we are at our bear minimum.

Paul writes in one of his letters that even when we’re at our very best, it’s still worthless in front of God. I think it’s become so easy for us to delude ourselves with the mentality that we can put on our “Sunday best” and that it becomes acceptable for us to be before the throne of God. But the simple fact of the matter is that it’s completely bogus to live in such a way!

God’s never fooled by our actions. There’s not some smoke-screen we can throw in front of God to trick Him into thinking we’re someone that we’re not. God never says, “Oh, look, Marshall has been in church every Sunday for the past 3 years! Man, I really like that guy,” or, “Man, Marshall does so many good things for others, I really want him on MY team.”

Our idea of what God wants from us needs to change drastically. It can’t always be, I should really make it to church this week because God needs me to be there, or, I should pray because that’s what Christians are supposed to do. But rather,

I want to be at church this week so that God can reveal His will for me,
or
I pray because I desire to build a relationship with God.

A familiar verse of Scripture to many of us is Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”

There’s a lot of depth in this small and simple verse that we may have memorized in Sunday School as children. But when we take a deeper look, here are a view things that rise to the surface.

1. Our actions in life are a direct result of what we’ve inherited because of God. (in view of God’s mercy)

2. Having God’s mercy, we are endowed with the capability to bring pleasure to God. (holy and pleasing to God)

3. Each of us does this in countless ways, not defined by physical or material barriers, but by the desires of our heart. (spiritual act of worship)

on 1… Before we are able to genuinely approach God, whether on Sunday morning, or any instance throughout our week, we need to come to the understanding that the time that we have, the air we breathe, is all because God has displayed mercy to us by granting us these gifts. (We’ve learned through Scripture that God does not always patiently tolerate the ignorance of His creation. He flooded the earth to rid the world of the wicked, He consumed an entire “metroplex” of Sodom and Gomorrah at His distaste for their practices, He brought down plague after plague after plague to Egypt to get the reality of His will to become evident.)

Remember that God’s love wouldn’t have any meaning if it weren’t for the justice that love is withholding.

on 2… Being created in God’s own image (Gen. 1:27), we have not only the capability, but the opportunity to bring offerings to God. The great part about this is the fact that what we offer God doesn’t always have to be an immense sacrifice or a huge sum of money or the very clothes off our back (though at times God can ask these things), but what God really gets pleasure out of is His creation (us) bringing Him glory in the way we live the life that He gave us in the first place. Mercy, right?

Remember that God would be justified in being rid of anyone who doesn’t bring Him glory. We were created for God’s glory.

on 3… The beauty of the human condition is that inside of existing in the image of God, each one of us is different. Some of us have talents and ideas that take us to far places in business, and others have gifts and vision to create art and music, and others have passion to connect and interact with people, and thousands of others! All of these things are possessions of our spiritual hearts that God has mandated to be used to bring His glory. It’s never been said that being a follower of Christ requires no money, no success, no happiness. God is responsible for the way the world operates. In business, in finance, in agriculture, in relationships, in everything. The reason it’s so easy for us to categorize “Christianity” as the group of people that “don’t have any fun” is because we’ve lost touch with the way God intended for earthly pleasures to operate. We can serve God and have money, and we can serve God andenjoy life. But of all God’s commandments, there’s one that transcends the entire Bible and is the focal point of all human history.

“You shall have no other gods before me.” (Ex 20:3)

God is a jealous God. And rightfully so. We’ve taken the world that He gave in His merciful and loving nature, and created idols out of every good thing! God wants us to enjoy the life and the pleasures He’s given us within the parameters of the way He created those things to exist.

Worship is defined as “our response to what God has revealed to us in the world and in our lives.” Think about everything God’s done for you.

Now what have you done for Him?