Created for Worship: Worship as a Calling and Way of Life

How important is worship? Is it optional? Is it something that we can do when we feel like it? Today we will look at 3 verses that discuss the importance of worship.

Jeremiah 32:39: “I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship Me forever.”

We can see from this verse that our one purpose in life is to worship Jesus. It’s why we were created – to worship Him forever.

Mark 12:29-30: “The most important commandment is this: . . . You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.”

Jesus says that the first and greatest commandment – the first commandment, the greatest thing – is to love Him, and to worship Him.

Luke 10:42, when Jesus is speaking to Mary and Martha: “One thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part.”

What is the “one thing” that Mary chose? Jesus! She chose to sit at His feet, to listen to His teaching, and to love Him.

We were created for one purpose – to worship, to behold Jesus, to love Him. That is the only thing that will ever satisfy us. No pleasure on earth, no promotion, no bonus, no person will ever satisfy us – only Jesus will. We were born to worship. Worship is the highest calling. That doesn’t mean that everyone has to sit in a prayer room and sing all day, but everyone is called to this heart of worship.

So what does it look like? It looks like this. Worship isn’t something you do for a half hour on Sunday. Worship is your life. You wake up early on Monday morning because you want to give the first part of your day to the One who is first in your life. You spend a half hour or an hour alone with Jesus. Why? Because lovers love to be alone. You want to be with Him, and He wants to be with you. So you spend that time loving Him, reading His Word, worshipping Him, and communing with Him.

Then you go to work, but your heart posture stays the same. You’re completing tasks, but your heart posture is still in love. You see people not as projects but as those He died for. And instead of being annoyed with them, you love them and pray for them.

Then you come home to your family, and you delight to spend time with them because Jesus loves family, and He delights to spend time with you. And you end your day full of His love, full of His presence, and a little more conformed to His image than you were the day before.

This is what a life of worship looks like. It’s living every moment in love.

And it’s not complicated, but you do have to surrender. You have to surrender your agenda, your goals, your dreams, your to-do list – and let Him live through you. Worship is laying ourselves down to love Him.

In that place, we realize how satisfying it is to love Him – to have no agenda other than to live in His presence 24/7, to have eyes for nothing other than His face, and to find purpose, calling, and identity only in Him. And that’s why He says, “I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship Me forever” – because worship is the highest calling, and it’s what we were created for.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.