by Sam Wammock
Worship? Outside of Sundays?
I grew up thinking worship was something that happened before the pastor would get up and preach. I had no idea how wrong this is. I finally became aware of how worship can happen as we do anything in our lives. I learned how to worship while I play soccer and how to worship as I am going throughout my day. It has been a really cool experience to learn how to take a bunch of things that I love to do and use them as an act of worship.
There are two things that helped me get to a better place of understanding when it comes to worship.
The first thing is Romans 12:1, which says,
“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.”
I began to think that if Jesus could offer his body as THE living sacrifice that offered me eternity with him, then I should be able to live my life in such a way that is for the Lord. The biggest misconception I had when I started learning this is that I cannot do anything that I enjoy (soccer, biking, hanging out with friends) because I needed to live a life that is holy and acceptable to God. How silly of me to think God would give me passions in life that I could not do because it was not holy or pleasing to him. So I learned how to instead use the things that I love to honor and glorify him as an act of worship.
The second thing that helped me understand worship better is realizing I can choose to worship God or his creation/people in His creation. We were made to worship something, so if I choose to not use my life to worship the Lord, I will find something else to worship. I think this was a hard pill to swallow because it reminded me of Romans 1:18-25 which says,
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”
This is a bit more extreme than what is going on in my life, but the concept remains from Exodus 20:
“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
I want to make sure that I am always worshipping the Creator and not allowing myself to worship any other gods in my life.
Worshipping is something that is so important and I want to make sure that I am aware of how easy it is to worship anyone or anything. I want to stay constant in offering my body as a living sacrifice to the Lord of what is holy and pleasing to be my act of worship to the Lord.
What’s something in your daily life you can turn into an act of worship?
Author | Sam (Photos provided by Sam)
FUN FACT: Sam played 4 years of collegiate soccer at Columbia International University. She was named Female Student Athlete of the Year and All-Tournament at Nationals for 2 years!
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