“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1
“Trash or recycle?” Katie asked me this morning. After my initial “Huh?” she explained that the handful of pens in her hand had quit writing. Her inquiry was in which bin to throw them… trash or recycle? Surprisingly, it was a spiritual moment! After telling her the subject of today’s message, her mouth and eyes opened in ‘WOW’ fashion, then we both exclaimed… “PERFECT!”
The theme for tonight’s Bible Study will be… what we ARE doing now, and what we WILL be doing in Heaven. The answer can easily be found in every book of the Bible. But I’m convinced that the proper description and display of ‘Worship’ has been abused. If someone asked for a modern example of worship, they’d be more apt to get a shiny gold pen rather than a written line of text!
The idea that worship is raised hands, closed eyes, swaying bodies and lips repeating, “You are worthy oh Lord,” just doesn’t sit well with what today’s Bible verse is trying to convey! God has perfect Holy Angels surrounding His throne continually proclaiming His Holiness and worth. My little voice adds no value to their message. What is God trying to say in the message of the pens?
Katie and I have different reactions when pens quit working. If it is in her hand and it stops, she tries a few times to see if it will go again. If it doesn’t, she throws it away! In her words, “a pen is supposed to work! When it doesn’t, I have no desire to try to coax it to do its job.” Me? I’ll try heating it in my coffee or with a lighter. I’ll even apply enzymes, sucking on the tip to make it go!
The purpose of a pen is to write. The purpose of man is to…? When Lucifer chose to oppose and take over God’s position, it is interesting to note that the weapon of God’s choice to defeat him was NOT to throw him away. His most bold move was to bend down to form a weapon out of… DIRT! Filling the dirt-bag with Himself, God announced His plan to all of creation. His enemies laughed!
Being a dirt-bag in a dirty world, getting dirtier by the day, is a tough assignment. Is my job to simply squeak out some shiny noise about God’s value among the dirty? Or, as seems to be indicated by today’s verse, am I to yield my life to Him and allow Him to personally introduce Himself to other dirty people by allowing Him to touch them through my hands?
Am I doing what He created me to do? Are you? Even in the dark times?
