We worship. It happens. On purpose. By accident. We worship.

Worship requires something, or someone, to be the object of our affection, our interest, our desire, our obsession.

Steeple nor pew, altar nor temple are needed. Elements, rituals, equipment, rites – aids for our worship. But worship transcends the tools that assist us. Tools only serve to facilitate the deeper connection between the object of worship and the depth of the soul.

Desire links passion with purpose, no matter how right or how wrong, creating a craft of invention. Innovation through action springs forth in worship. Name it any other, it remains to be true. We worship what we want. Worship is selfish. Worship is selfless. It gives glory to its’ object and expects a favor in return. However, unadulterated worship gives glory for its’ own sake. There is no personal agenda other than honoring the beauty in the eye of the beholding worshiper. In this adoration, worship is found to be fragmented with death and yet full of life. Worship becomes a beautiful surrender.

To worship God as a way of life, it is His glory that reigns supreme. The catalyst – our surrender and His mercy. “For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all . . . in view of God’s mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 11:32; 12:1)

Worship (of God) as a way of life becomes all consuming. It requires death to self in order for us to be living sacrifices. It’s easy to be a dead sacrifice. Anyone can die. There is seldom an act of worship in dying. Unless it’s death to self and alive to God. Death to self means death for my disobedience.

In light of God’s mercy on my disobedient life, my body (my life: all I am and all I have and all I can do) is sacrificed: my disobedient desires, thoughts, wants are sacrificed on the altar of spiritual worship so that I am living a holy and pleasant life to God. Worship becomes a way of life. The object of my worship: God, receives glory through the way my life is lived out on a day-to-day basis. Worship is not an event but a way of living. Spiritual acts of godliness permeate the life as the body is in full submission to the Spirit of God as a life of worship.