Sunday morning church activities represent only a piece of the biblical definition of worship. Anything we do that brings honor and glory to God is worship and our ultimate goal in life is to have all our thoughts and actions transformed into worship. The relationship between Sunday morning and the rest of life is like the relationship between two people. I can tell my wife I love her with a card and flowers on a special anniversary and I can show her I love her through some more mundane action like washing her car and filling it with gas. For our relationship to be healthy, she hopes for both: words confirmed through actions and actions explained by words. With God it is the same. On a Sunday morning, we declare our praise, throughout the rest of the week, we strive to confirm it by our actions (albeit only with God’s help and even so, falteringly). Embracing both kinds of worship leads to a healthy relationship with the Lord.
Regular Sunday worship is a practice that brings blessing in a number of directions. It blesses God, it strengthens individuals and it encourages the formation of life-giving relationships with other believers. A popular time management strategy is to schedule the most important things in life first (“the big rocks”) and then fill in the less important things around those (“the small rocks”). For the Christ follower, there is no activity more important than worship. The demands of employers, the draw of sports, the Sunday paper, the call of nature, etc, etc, are all “small rocks” in relation to the call to worship. God is always faithful to honor those who honor him.
Scriptures
Romans 12:1-2
Hebrew 10:25
Colossians 3:15-17
Resources
A Royal Waste of Time, by Marva Dawn
For All God’s Worth?, by N.T. Wright
Projects
- Make a list of the most important activities in your life. Where does worship fall? What changes need to happen to get worship into the number one position?
- Attend a worship service with the goal of giving (to God and to others) instead of receiving. How does this change the experience?
- Before any major activity in the day, pause and pray a prayer dedicating it to the Lord
- Set aside some time to experience the beauty of God’s creation and let that inspire you to worship him. This might include looking at photos of nature, listening to music, studying a painting, eating some delicious food, etc.