From the pulpit: True worship is a lifestyle
Published 12:00 am Friday, March 21, 2008
Sylvester Mixon Jr. / Guest Columnist
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
John 4:24
More than anything, I believe that God is looking for true worship. When God talks about true worship, it’s not just about going to church on Sunday morning. True worship is not just reading your Bible occasionally. It’s not praying every now and then — when you remember and didn’t fall asleep.
I’ve found that not everyone is a worshipper. Many people worship or go to worship, but that doesn’t mean they are a worshipper.
James 4:8 says “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
In others words, if you come close to God, he will come close to you. But wait, in coming close to God there is something we must deal with. This deadly thing is called sin.
Sin separates us from God and will always hinder true worship. What you spend the most time around is what you become like. Show me your friends and I’ll show you yourself. Put it like this, “If you put junk in you, junk will come out.”
So if we are going to follow God and become true worshippers we must examine ourselves, deal with our sins, and come closer to God. True worship is dedicating our lives to God, worshipping with our whole heart, and being honest and real with God, even giving Him the secret things in our life.
A worshipper is one that is willing to give it all up and trust God with it all. Worship is my assembly with other believers, it’s prayer, it’s faith, it’s reading the Bible, its singing a love song to God, it’s sacrifice, it’s how I treat others.
Worship is how I live each day. Remember, we show God’s worth to us by the way we “worth-ship;” worship Him. So, are you just one that worships? Or, are you a true worshipper?
God the Father looks for true worshippers.
Sylvester Mixon Jr. is the pastor at Unity Christian Center in Saginaw