I Need to Worship

Advent & Christmas 

We are now in the Christian season of Advent. This English word comes from a Latin word meaning “coming” and as used in the Christian calendar it designates the four Sundays before Christmas during which Christians reflect on the meaning of the second coming of Christ and prepare for the Christmas season (Twelve days from Christmas to the Epiphany, January 6). The first and the final coming of Christ are connected because it is through our belief in the first coming of Jesus – his birth and his life, death, and resurrection – that gives us faith and hope in his promised coming again in final victory. For the first three weeks of this Advent Season, I will be reflecting on my core Christian beliefs.

December 4, 2023

I Need to Worship

Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

Genesis 1:31

Read Genesis 1:26-28,31

The creation story of Genesis 1, 2 and 3 can be summarized as revealing a Good God who created a Good Earth and Good Humankind in His image. God gave the humans a vocation: to be stewards of God’s Good Earth and all His creation. To be faithful stewards, humans needed to worship their Creator so that they could reflect God’s goodness through their vocation. But humans stopped worshipping God and obeyed a lesser being. In what Dennis Kinlaw calls the essence of sin, humankind turned from worshipping God to worshipping themselves.

The rest of the Bible can be summarized as God working to redeem His creation. 

As I meditate on the creation story, the relationship between seeking the life in Christ as my way of life and worship grips my heart and mind. For almost thirty years, Hebrews 12:28-29 has been a guiding light as I seek the life in Christ.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire. (NRSV)

In the creation story, I see God’s desire for His people to stay in a right relationship with Him through worship and obedience which are both reflected in the passage from Hebrews. In January 2020, while away from home, I attended a worship service that was truly a service of reverence and awe for God. I have not stopped reflecting on that worship experience; it was an epiphany in my spiritual life. When the pandemic closed many churches for months, I realized just how desperate my soul was for authentic worship, worship that reveals deep reverence for our Creator God and worship that is in awe of God the Father Almighty who looked at a world that did not exist and spoke it into being through the power of His word.

My Takeaway: Jesus calls me to let my light shine (Matthew 5:16). I have no light to shine without worshipping God. This Advent Season, I am so very thankful the Holy Spirit is leading Cheryl and I to worship our God with reverence and awe.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.