There seems to be a lot of worshiping going on at the gym. Maybe that’s why they have so many mirrors. Don’t you just hate those big muscle bound men constantly staring at themselves in the mirror, worshiping their bodies? I was thinking about this today. Then as I looked at my body, that I don’t like so much, in the mirror, I realized I’m doing the same thing … worshiping my insecurities. Worshiping myself.
I have been back at the gym for the last 4 weeks now, and have been making some major changes to my eating habits. I am 38 years old, and to this point in my life I have refused to eat anything green. Well that’s not 100% true. I like green Jolly Ranchers and M&M’s. I rarely eat vegetables, unless you count the sauce on top of the best homemade pizza ever. I may grab an apple once every other week, but that has been the extent of my fruit and vegetable intake. I have recently come to realize I have also been worshiping food.
So a few weeks back I made the decision, I want to get healthy. Oh, I’ve made this decision many times before. In fact, I pretty much make it every Monday, but this time something is different. This time I made the decision because I want to be healthy enough to serve Jesus for the remainder of my time on earth. I want to worship Him through service, through how I raise my kids, through how I spread His love. This time, I’m not doing it for me; I’m doing it for Him.
As I was on the treadmill today I had my head phones on jamming to a great worship album (Top 25 Modern Worship Songs, various artists) and as each song played I began to think of how my work out was an act of Worship. Many churches have split over worship styles. Some like modern praise songs, some like southern gospel, some like hymns and some like a rock concert. I think too often, we think song is the only avenue to worship. It is important that we begin thinking of our entire life of an act of worship. Everything we do.
- Give money in the offering … worship
- Serve a small village in a foreign country … worship
- Change a poopy diaper in the nursery … worship
- Obey God’s commandments … worship
- Give a dollar to the homeless beggar on the side of the road … worship
- Share your faith with family members who don’t know Christ … worship
- Run for 60 minutes on the treadmill … worship
- Drink a carrot-kale-spinach-apple juice to improve your health … worship
It’s not about singing songs on Sunday morning, and it being your “style” … it is about your heart. It is about having Jesus at the center of everything.
As I ran on the treadmill and listened to music through my headphones, I would hear lines like …
I lift my eyes up, where does my help come from … as I was on the most challenging level of the hill climb workout.
And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us … as I approached the point of wanting to quit.
Your love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me … as sweat dripped and the workout ended.
You see, God is there with us all the time. We are made to worship. God doesn’t have a standard on the type of worship He accepts. He just want us, all of us. How we worship is irrelevant. In the past, when I wanted to “get into shape” it was about worshiping me. It was about wanting to look better for me, wanting to feel better for me, wanting my pants to stop cutting me in half, for me. But this time it’s different, this time it’s all about Jesus (except when I make it about me). This time I want to change my health so I can live and serve Him longer. This time I want it to be about continuing to serve the least of these. This time I want to have the energy to raise kids who love and worship the one true God. This time, it’s all about you Lord.