What Did Jesus Say - About Worship?

Thought For Today - August 11
What Did Jesus Say - About Worship?
By: Robert A. Searles

     Worship – what is worship?  Worship is said to be the act of showing reverence, adoration, to adore; to love; and to admire.and to serve.

     The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.  It was made by him, and was all his from the beginning, but he temporarily laid aside all that rightly belonged to him so as to become one of us earthlings, made a little lower than the angels, so that he could share in our miseries, and pay our sin debt so that we could be like him.

     Many wonderful things that God has made and placed within our reach tempts us to be covetous.  Satan, while tempting Jesus, reminded him of all the kingdoms of the world that he could rule over if he would just turn his affection away from God the Father, and worship him, who had gained control of all these  things through the fall of the human race.

     Satan said to Jesus: “All these things will I give thee if thou will fall down and worship me.”  In other words, Satan was sayin -  all can be yours if you will reverence, adore, love and admire me above all else, including God the Father.

    What did Jesus say?  “Then saith Jesus unto him, get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shall thou serve.” Matthew 4: 10. (KJV)

     This beautiful world that God has made is full of enticements for us to covet.  Some things are good for us; others are not right for us to have.  We are likewise tempted by our flesh, and by Satan to  neglect our worship and service to God to go after those things, forgetting that God our Father, who gave his only begotten son to save us, will through him also give us freely all good things to enjoy if we will dedicate our worship and service to him only.

    When we seek material things more than we seek a spiritual relationship with God our Father, we are falling into Satan's trap to worship him.  The result is that we may have pleasure and comfort for a season, but in the end only misery and desolation.

     Let us be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, and remind ourselves as Jesus said: “It is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve.” Math 4: 10 (KJV