Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Worshiping in Heaven and Earth

I just wanted to share another thought from my Heaven book that I'm reading because it is so cool and practical for now. In the past, if you asked me what will we do in Heaven? I would give the typical answer we will be worshiping God for eternity. I guess I pictured singing or gathering around Him giving thanks, but honestly I couldn't picture doing it all day long forever. Then, I came to this question in the book. Will we always be engaged in worship in Heaven?
This is what the author says, " Yes and No. If we have a narrow view of worship, the answer is No. But if we have a broad view of worship, the answer is Yes...."Will we always be on our faces at Christ's feet worshiping him? No, because Scripture says we'll be doing many other things-living in dwelling places, eating and drinking, reigning with Christ, and working for Him. Scripture depicts people standing, walking, traveling in and out of the city, and gathering at feasts. When doing these things, we won't be on our faces before Christ. Nevertheless, All that we do will be an act of worship. Worship involves more than singing and prayer. Even now we're told" Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances."(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).That God expects us to do many other things, such as rest, work and be with our families, shows that we must be able to be joyful, give thanks and pray while we are doing other things. Have you ever spent a day or several hours when you sensed the presence of God as you hiked, worked, gardened, drove, read or did the dishes? Those are foretastes of Heaven-not because we are doing nothing but worshiping, but because we are worshiping God as we do everything else."
When I read this, I was encouraged to worship God here right now. Another verse came to mind, "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31 )I knew that I would be having a busy day, but I can still worship God as I do everything. It reminded me not to compartmentalize my life which I am guilty of doing a lot. I forget to worship God and see his soverignty in my everyday circumstances, and then I find myself frustrated because I don't respond how I would have hoped to. It's nice knowing that we can enjoy doing the same things on Earth as we will be doing in Heaven, the only difference is in Heaven we won't be entangled in the affairs of everyday life and we will finally be true worshipers!

2 comments:

Natalie said...

Thanks for sharing this! Worship is definitely a lifestyle. This is something that I need to be daily reminded of.

Greg, Niki and Addie said...

I'm so glad you're enjoying the book! It's on my want-to-read-it list. I'm in the middle of Joni Erickson-Tada's book on Heaven, and also I love the one MacArthur wrote called the Glory of Heaven. Isn't our eternal home exciting to learn about?