A Life of Worship?

Worship is not just singing on Sunday mornings. I know that you already know that, but sometimes we need to know it again, if you know what I mean. I certainly need the reminder, and I need to remember that God calls me not just to worship through song for 20 minutes a week, but He calls me to live a life of worship. 

The Apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, “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.” (Rom 12:1) He urges and pleads with these Christians to live lives of worship. It’s interesting that singing is not mentioned here, but holiness is. 

Worship is living in obedience to Jesus as our Lord. It’s one thing to sing to Jesus, it’s another thing to submit to him, and I think the latter is more difficult. As Paul mentions, this is a “sacrifice.” That means in order to truly worship God with our lives we must be daily denying ourselves and seeking to do His will.

If you were to evaluate your lifestyle of worship, how do you think you’re doing? In what ways can you continue to grow as you worship God through your job, or your school? How can you glorify God with the relationships He has entrusted to you with your friends, family, or neighbors? How can you excel at studying and applying God’s word on a regular basis? How can you increase your willingness and boldness to share your faith with others?

My encouragement to myself and to you this week is that we would seek to grow in living a life of worship, and let’s do that together!

Sunday Songs

As always, you can listen to the songs we’ll be singing this Sunday on Youtube or Spotify. I hope this will help you become more familiar with these songs and with the truths contained within them. You can also download the lyrics for these songs here.

Listen on YOUTUBE
Listen on SPOTIFY

Songs for Sunday, May 28th:

1. Lion and the Lamb
2. All Creatures of Our God and King
3. Only A Holy God
4. Jesus Paid it All
5. Revelation Song

Jesus Paid It All

Has your mind ever wandered while listening to someone else pray for a really long time? I already know the answer is, yes! Well, sometimes that leads to really amazing things, because that’s how this song came into being. The author of this hymn, Elvina Hall, was listening to her pastor pray when her mind began to wander. She began to ponder the cross of Christ and what that meant for her, and lyrics started coming to her. She didn’t have her journal with her so she began to write down these lyrics on the flyleaf of the hymnal, “Jesus paid it all. All to Him, I owe.” She ended up sharing these lyrics with her pastor, and then with the church organist named, John Grape. They worked together to finish this song and it was published in 1865. Over the last 150 years it has become one of the most beloved christian songs across the world. 

Below are the lyrics for this song, and you can click here if you’d like to read a full article on the origin of this song. 

Verse 1
I hear the savior say
Thy strength indeed is small
Child of weakness watch and pray
Find in me thine all in all

Chorus
Jesus paid it all
All to him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

Verse 2
Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and thine alone
Came and changed the lepers spots
And it melt the heart of stone

Verse 3
And when before the throne
I stand in him complete
Jesus died my soul to save
My lips shall still repeat

Bridge
O praise the One who paid my debt
And raise this life up from the dead

I can’t wait to sing this song with you all on Sunday. It is such an amazing declaration that our Savior has paid for our sin in full, and we are now washed clean, imputed with the righteousness of Jesus! Thank you Jesus for your amazing grace and love. 

Can’t wait for Sunday!