ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP OF GOD

Knowing and believing who God is through His Word, the Bible, changes our lives because the Bible shows us the character of God, His ways, and His expectations on how we should live as His children—His followers. Christianity is based on His Word; however, this has been distorted because people do not want to apply God's Word in their lives; they do not want to change from a sinful lifestyle to godliness. Isaiah 29:13 says, "The LORD says: 'These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.'" As we can see in the verse, there is a huge disconnect or gap between the hearts of the people and their worship of God. The people did everything to worship God according to the rules of the religious leaders; however, everything that they did was not acceptable to God because their hearts were not submitted to God. 1 Samuel 15:22 gave us more clarity on why their worship was not acceptable to God, "But Samuel replied, 'What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.'" 

A lesson that we can learn from today's devotion is that we cannot separate what we know and believe about God from our day-to-day lifestyles. Christianity is a life of obedience to God. As we know and believe what the Word of God says about who God is and how we should think and behave as God's children, our way of living should differ from those who do not believe in God. The way we talk and the way we treat others should exemplify our relationship with God. If we are struggling with anger, pride, selfishness, disobedience, unbelief, or doubt, we need to cry out to God to change our hearts because only God can change us. We must be willing to change; otherwise, our beliefs about God mean nothing to Him. We end up pleasing ourselves and not God. Let us live out what we know and believe about God by obeying His Word. For the next few daily devotions, we will be talking about what the Word of God says about the controversial issues that we face in our society today. God is going to challenge us on whether we follow God's Word or the teachings of this world.

May our hearts and the way we worship God be pleasing and acceptable to God. Let us continue to ask God to change our hearts, and not let our hearts be hardened with sin.

Questions for application: (Think through these questions carefully, meditate on them while answering them, and let the Spirit of God speak to you.) What would be the reason that God will not accept my worship of Him? What are God's expectations for how I should live my life? What should I do if I am struggling to obey God?

Take a moment to write down all your worries today. Then, lift them up to God in prayer, surrendering them to His will and trusting in His guidance.

Prayer:

Dear Father in Heaven, Please forgive me if I do not worship you in the manner you deserve. Please continue to change my heart. Please do not let my heart be hardened by sin. Give me the willingness of obedience so that I may worship you with my heart and my lips. As I go through the day, please help me to live in obedience to you in everything that I do. In your name, Jesus, I pray, Amen.