O Come All Ye Faithful

O come, let us adore Him.  This phrase is repeated several times throughout the song.  We sing it every year, but do we mean it or even know what it means?  It can take different meanings depending on its context.  I adore my wife Sarah.  You probably know that by now.  In this sense, I love and admire her, and I am devoted to her.  And while we can and should love, admire, and be devoted to Jesus, there is a separate meaning that is perhaps more appropriate for the way we ought to adore Him: to worship and honor as God.

So how do we go about doing that?  Worship might initially sound like the easier part of the equation.  Just show up at church and sing when it’s time to sing!  Although that is part of worship, that is not the whole of it.  Did you know that listening (or preaching) a message on God’s Word is worship?  Did you know that giving an offering is worship?  Did you know that reading your Bible is worship?  Did you know that living your life in a way that honors God on a daily basis is worship? Well, in case you didn’t know, each of those things is true.

Worship involves honoring, so the actual easiest way to answer this question is to figure out what it means to honor God. To honor someone is to give him proper respect due to who he is and/or due to the position he may hold.  So to honor God is to acknowledge His position in our lives.  God is supreme.  He is over all, because He was before all.  .  God is God, and we are not.  Therefore we ought to live in deference to His will.  When we honor God, we do so by living the life He created us to live, by behaving in the way He has called us to behave, by seeking Him first, by loving others before ourselves, and so forth.  We honor God by bringing Him glory, and we can only bring Him glory when we are following Him.

Romans 11:33-12:2:  “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!  “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

We honor by praising, by seeking, by following, by obeying, by giving, by blessing, by serving, and by living.  Do you honor God?  In what ways do you best honor God?  In what areas of your life do you find honoring God to be most difficult?  How can you be more intentional about bringing honor God (at home, at work, at school, at church)?