The Focus of Life... Living Worship

Sometimes life gets crowded. Sometimes everything seems to be caving in on you, everything that you leaned on is shaking, your very foundations are being uprooted, and suddenly you're forced to reach out and grasp the hand of the One Who's been holding you up all along.

This might sound fairly dramatic, but I'm sure we can all relate to this feeling of life just seeming too much to handle. It's times like this, times when you're being pushed and pulled in all directions, and your stress levels have increased to what feels like their maximum level, that you're forced into action of some kind or another. Hopefully, we will do the right thing and turn quickly to Jesus, Who's really the Only Person who can help us with our problems.

But sometimes we don't turn to Jesus. Sometimes we try and handle it all on our own. When we feel down, we run to the telephone. Or we run to the shopping centre. Or to the fridge. We battle on in our own strength, letting the stress and pain of life, which inevitably comes to us all at some time or another, build up like a great wall inside of us, until it can become almost impenetratable, and it will take a miracle for it to be broken down.

This may sound fairly pessimistic, but trials and tribulations do and will come to us all. It is a part and fact of life. But we don't have to let them get us down. We can let them mould us and shape, and force us into the arms of Jesus, where we actually find all we've been looking for in the first place.

One of the 'good things' that can happen while we're suffering, inwardly or outwardly, is that we're brought to a place of remembering what is most important in life. I think one of the greatest callings in a Christian's life, perhaps the greatest calling, is to worship Jesus.

When we're suffering and sore, worshipping can seem like one of the last things we would want to do. But isn't it ironic that when we do choose to make the 'sacrifice of praise', suddenly our great problems, which seemed like mountains in our eyes, become like molehills?

Worshipping isn't just a motion. It's not just singing a nice song or raising our hands in a service. It isn't just reading the Word or praying. It can be all of these things, but it's more than that. It's the direction and focus of our heart, the looking of our spiritual eyes to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our salvation. It's the genuine heart-attitude of thanksgiving and praise, and the offering of hope and trust, in any situation. Perhaps most importantly, it's loving God with our everything.

We can worship in many ways. Doing anything with and for Jesus is an act of worship. We could be cleaning, tidying, having a meal with friends, getting dressed or singing in church. Our whole lives can become an offering of worship to Jesus, in every and any situation, whether our present circumstances seem difficult or not. And when we truly worship Him we discover meaning and purpose in our lives, and the joy and peace which comes from loving God with a sincere heart.