Day 261

Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day.

Chapter 22, Paragraph 1.

“….But the acceptable way of Worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself;…”

Scripture Lookup

Deuteronomy 12:32

Reflection

All humanity knows from the general revelation of nature that God is to be worshiped. What does such worship look like? Because of the Fall, the knowledge of how to worship God has been corrupted. The world does not enjoy communion with God, so how can it begin to properly worship Him? Numerous religions have arisen throughout history, with different methods of worship. Are such methods acceptable to God?

A popular notion today is that there are many paths to God. You worship Him your way, and He will be pleased; I worship Him my way, and He will accept that as well. Such worship of God is extremely convenient, as the individual’s preference ultimately determines the design of worship. However, there are ways of worshiping God that are not pleasing to Him. In fact, all ways but one are unacceptable to Him! Only one practice of worship is pleasing in His sight, and that is the one that He Himself has instituted.

It is not enough to think, “I want to worship God”, and then dream up a way of worship that suits myself. God alone has revealed how He is to be worshiped. He has told what type of worship is acceptable to Him. As believers who have been regenerated by His Spirit, enabled to obey His commands, we should earnestly desire to obey and please God. If we learn how He is to be worshiped, yet decide we will worship Him our own way, how can we think that is even remotely acceptable to Him?

God, through nature, reveals He is to be worshiped. God, through the Scriptures, reveals how He is to be worshiped. May we be careful to worship Him in the way He has prescribed.

Questions to Consider

• Does God value good intentions over what He has prescribed for worship? Does it matter how we worship Him, as long as “our hearts are in the right place”?