“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, “Thus says the Lord: Let my people go, so that they may worship me”’.”
~Exodus 8:1 (NRSV)
Christians commonly look for a good word in due season; it is a prophetic utterance that speaks over their lives for a period, for purpose, to guide them along their way. These ‘words’ are Bible verses or passages, or they may be delivered, specifically, by believers with the prophetic gift.
What is said above, from the ancient book of Exodus, that which is a refrain (verses 4:23; 8:1; 8:20; 9:1; 9:13; 10:3; 10:7), is an Eternal Word. All other seasonal words may simply complement this one underpinning Word.
The Eternal Father will have humanity freed (by living condition) only that they may worship aright. That is the Eternal Word for Life: that, in the Saviour’s name and stead, all believing ones are set free to worship him.
This is a worship of truth in the midst of myriad false worship. And such truth-filled worship may occur in every dimension of life, from chores, to singing, to parenting, and even by sleeping.
Everything done right, or based in truth, is an act of worship, which pleases God.
Worship Is the Purpose of Life
From this—the act of Divine worship—do all other purposes of life report.
Without worship, correct in its objective and alignment, all of life is spent foolishly, wasted for all manner of reason, a mere spinning of the mortal wheels against the immortal flow of God; just like virtue without love is meaningless.
Worship is the one thing we are to carry close to our hearts through the entire journey of life; only this way will we experience freedom.
One Thing to Carry Close to the Heart
It is the base human predilection to search for meaning, and in that obtain a meaningful Word that will direct all of life.
The trouble is, with so much input, and so many stimuli, especially in today’s globalised Internet world, that meaningful Word is crowded out by other noisy words sounding much the same; deceiving us by promises of meaningfulness. Our spiritual focus is, hence, diluted and rendered possibly directionless.
We seek just one Word; then we have ten or fifty or a hundred things to deal with. It’s a satanic spirit we battle with.
Our simple human minds compel us to be judicious and just carry one thing close to the heart—but we get confused, and we keep shifting our bases.
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One thing we can trust, however, is this one Word that overlays all other words:
“Let my people go, so that they may worship me,” says the LORD.
Working in reverse, granted that we are free to worship, when we do, we are blessed with freedom, more and more. That freedom is due the right of worshipping God in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24), knowing that worshipping in truth will set us free (John 8:32).
Only those who worship aright are free. Even the believer who worships, but incorrectly or inappropriately, or worse in unfocused ways, is still bonded to something. Worship is the critical facet of life—the Eternal Word.
Choose for freedom: worship in the fullness of comparative joy.
© 2011 S. J. Wickham.
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