I was reading a devotional by Ziphora Madhukar on a topic that came up the previous week: Worship in the Workplace and a comment in the introduction caught my eye.
God did not create a church and then people to put inside to worship Him. He created a garden for them to cultivate, spending time with God there… Their workplace was their Worship place.
The more time I spend on this topic I feel that over centuries, the devil has managed to slowly corrupt our thoughts and understanding on worship.
If I start at the back working from a Christian perspective, shifting to a worldly perspective:
Worship is work
What is the purpose of the thing we tagged as “worship” in many modern churches? Is it a 3 or 5 song karaoke or singalong in the beginning of a service that we need to get through so that we can get to the service so that we can get to the prayer so that we can get home and relax?
For many many many years… worship to me was not a lifestyle, not a way of thinking and doing but just a few songs on a Sunday.
I wasn’t particularly musical (not that it is even a requirement or needed at all) so my goal was to get it over with with the least amount of fuss. Somehow the idea lodged in my head that if God put a few in charge of worship, they are technically worshipping on our behalf… aren’t they?!
That is the first foundation that the lie about worship is based on. Proclaiming that worship is something it is not.
Then the devil went one step further…
Work as “Worship”
In tried and tested way, and in true fashion, the devil does what he does best: He lies.
“Put your heart and soul into every activity you do, as though you are doing it for the Lord himself and not merely for others…”
(Colossians 3:23 TPT)
This is absolutely true, and just and right… it is in the bible, after all! But the devil sits behind us and whispers to work harder, work longer, volunteer for weekend work, because the bible says so… If Work is Worship, then working on Sunday instead of Worshipping in Church, is allowed, isn’t it? maybe even preferred? Hey, even JESUS challenged the idea of not working on a rest day… didn’t He?
Rather work than spend time with your family, rather work than rest on the 7th day, because “work is worship”. You are not Going against God when you compromise with the right mindset (or so we tell ourselves…)
There are normal and natural boundaries and seasons that we have to observe… When it is harvest time, Harvest with perfection, be exact, be perfect… but you cannot keep on harvesting if there is nothing left to harvest in the field. And you can’t sow if the rain will just wash away your seeds. And most importantly – GOD DOES NOT EXPECT YOU TO! (Actually He commands you to stop and observe other rules and boundaries)
Do not fall for it! The devil likes to take single bible verses and hand them to you out of context as the “truth” and the “answer” to your questions. He even tried it with Jesus, he will definitely try it with you!
Worshipping Work
And now we are set up perfectly to have our focus shifted. When we start to bow down at the altar of work. Our time is spent in the church of office. We chase the next project, the next deal, the next bit of coin. Because we must… we need to pay the bills, we need to have money set away for an emergency, we need to get our kids through school. All true. All worthy. But we have softly and quietly shifted our focus from Jehova Jireh, The LORD our Provider, the taking care of business ourselves.
The devil can be trusted to be the devil. Sneaky, untrue, and constantly testing our defences.
But how can we stand against it?
Know the word of God and better yet, Know God. Spend time with the Father while in the Garden. Tending those “flowers” He put you in charge of. Caring for the “animals” while walking and talking together. Then you will hear and know when God says: We are done in the garden, time to go home and tend our family.
Do I get it right? Not is the least… but maybe today is the first day of change, my first attempt at trying again.
