Worshiping Today?

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of

the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God,

and that you are not your own?

I Corinthians 6:19

you also, as living stones, are being built up

as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood,

to offer up spiritual sacrifices

acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

...But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,

a holy nation, a people for God's own possession,

so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him

who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

I Peter 2:4,9

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God,

to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice,

acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Romans 12:1

In the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant, worship took place in the temple where the glory of God dwelled.  Sacrifice was the basis of the worship that occured and we see from Hebrews 9:6 that the priests were continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship as this was where the priests brought the animals to be sacrificed.

In the New Testament, under the New Covenant, each believer is a temple of God as His Holy Spirit indwells each one of us.  Sacrifice, which is still the basis of worship, occurs as we offer up ourselves to God each day.  This is what Christ meant when He said in Luke,  "Take up your cross daily and follow Me."  A life of sacrifice, self-sacrifice, is a life of worship.  Listen to what the Lord says in Isaiah 58:13-14b, "If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth."  It is this kind of self-sacrifice that proclaims His excellencies and shows His matchless worth to all the world around us, to both believers and non-believers alike.  It is a life that shouts, "Glory to the Lord, Glory to the Lord, Glory to the Lord." 

How is your worhip today?  Are you desisting from your own ways, seeking your own pleasure, and speaking your own word; and seeking His way, His pleasure, seasoning your speech with salt so that it may give grace to those who hear?  Are you sacrificing yourself for Him to day to show His matchless worth to you, His incomparable value to you, and your high estimation of Him?  This is presenting your bodies as a spiritual sacrifice well pleasing to God, and in this sacrifice, this worship, we will delight in our Lord; and He will make us ride on the heights of the earth.