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| Vol. 16 No. 10 October 2014 | Page 4 |
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| Vol. 16 No. 10 October 2014 | Page 4 |
Robert Johnson
“Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (James 4:14).
There is a line in the movie “The Quiet Man,” which starred John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, in which O’Hara, playing John Wayne’s wife, said, “I must have my things about me!” It seems many today have the same philosophy about life. We easily get caught up in having our things about us, but forget life isn’t about the things we accumulate. It’s interesting, as we go through life, the things we must have about us change frequently. We accumulate all sorts of stuff, but we are never satisfied with what we have, being attracted to whatever is the latest and the greatest. We have to go here, see this, do that, but the gratification from it all is short lived, and we want to move on to other experiences. In the process of indulging desires, we may miss out on what life is all about.
Things may loom large in importance to us, until someone close to us has to deal with an accident, a serious illness or something else that threatens his or her time on earth, or that someone else becomes oneself. When faced with one’s own mortality, or that of a loved one, things no longer seem that intriguing. We are reminded at such times that what really matters are those we love and care for, relationships with each other, time spent together while there is still time. Most of all, our relationship with God and where we will spend eternity becomes most important.
James reminds us we are not masters of our own destinies. We can make all kinds of grandiose plans, but we don’t really know what can happen from one minute to the next. If you consider the sum total of the days of our lives, compared to how long we will spend in eternity, we are a vapor, a puff of smoke that is briefly visible and then dissipates and is gone. The things of life we had about us will be taken up by others, sold or even discarded, but we will go into eternity. Solomon said, “As he came from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; he will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands” (Ecclesiastes 5:15). What each one of us takes is what we have carried in our hearts, which comes from within and makes us what we are – how we think, feel and act. How that has motivated us to live our lives will be what we answer for in judgment. Jesus reminds us, “For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, promiscuity, stinginess, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a person” (Mark 7:21-23).
We have no clue when the vapor of our lives will vanish, but we do know what will happen afterwards. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). Will our lives have been filled with things or relationships? Will we have pursued stuff or righteousness? Will our memories be of things that no longer exist or of spiritual realities that commend us to heaven? The longer we live, the more yesterdays we accumulate, and the fewer tomorrows we have. With the time you have, how do you live? What do you live for?
We can’t go back and undo our mistakes, but we can decide to make a difference starting today, for whom we live and what we do with life. Appreciate what you have, whether little or much and what God provides for your physical well-being. Love the people in your life, for you don’t know how long you have them to love. Remember that Jesus is Lord, and let God be God. Live for the eternal. When the smoke of life clears in the here and now, have you lived so that there is something better waiting for you, an existence that will never fade away in eternity. “Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4). Live for what lasts longer than a vapor or a puff of smoke. Live eternally thinking.
Does All of Life Constitute Worship?
Maxie B. Boren
For quite some time now brethren have been discussing the question, “Is the entirety of a Christian’s life worship to God?” Some in the brotherhood have taken the position that it does. A few have gone so far as to make outrageous assertions to “drive home the point” of what they consider the all-encompassing nature of worship. For example, a statement from a writer appeared in print in which he said: “All of life is worship to God…even changing diapers.” Such an affirmation is void of truth and is nothing less than absurd. It borders on sacrilege, if in fact it’s not.
To say that “changing diapers” is worship to God reflects a gross misunderstanding of what worship is all about. According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Vol. 5, 3110), worship is defined as, “Honor, reverence, homage, in thought, feeling, or act, [whether] paid to men, angels, spiritual beings, or to Deity.” (Obviously, a person could be deceived into worshiping some inanimate object, or some other human being, but for this article, we are using the word worship as a conscious homage, reverence and praise offered to the true and living God.) In the Old Testament the principal Hebrew word used for worship, “shahah,” carries the connotation of “bowing down to.” According to the ISBE article, from a composite of all Old Testament teaching on the subject, the idea for worship is “the reverential attitude of mind and body, combined with the…notions of religious adoration, obedience, and service.” In the New Testament, the primary Greek word used is “proskeneo,” meaning “make obeisance to, do reverence toward, to kiss toward” (W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of N.T. Words 234). “The N.T. idea of worship is a combination of the reverential attitude of mind and body, the general ceremonial and religious service to God, the feeling of awe, veneration, adoration…” (ISBE). From reading the ISBE article on worship, as well as gleanings from countless other sources, and especially from plain biblical teaching, one gains the clear understanding that worship to God is the purposed and conscious offering of praise, adoration, and homage to the One deserving of such, in keeping with the guidelines given by Him. Worship is something that a person purposes to do, and does from his heart, in acts prescribed by God.
Let’s note just a few biblical examples that clearly show worship to be an act one purposes to engage in, and does: (1) Abraham gave instruction to the two young men who accompanied Isaac and him to Moriah to attend to the animal while “I and the lad will go yonder and worship…” How could he “go and worship” if all of life is worship? Read Genesis 22:1-5. (2) When Moses and Aaron informed the elders of Israel of God’s intention of delivering them from Egyptian bondage, the record says “they bowed their heads and worshiped” (Exodus 4:31). What were they doing before that? Listening to what Moses and Aaron had to say, and upon learning of deliverance, they obviously wanted to praise and thank God by worshiping Him, and did so. (3) According to 1 Samuel Chapter One, Elkanah “went up…to worship…in Shiloh” (verse 3). He and his wife, Hannah “rose up in the morning early, and worshiped before the Lord…” (verse 19). Worship is something they went to do and did; worship did not encompass the totality of their lives. (4) Read Psalm 95, especially verse 6: “O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker.” Worship is a specific thing a person does. No human being does this continually, 24 hours of every day. (5) Read the context of John 4:19-24. What impressions do you gain? (6) The Ethiopian eunuch had “come to Jerusalem to worship” and then returned. Read Acts 8:27-28. (7) Note that Paul “went up to worship at Jerusalem” in Acts 24:11.
Much of the argumentation on the matter revolves around the translation of Romans 12:1. In the KJV, ASV, NKJV, and Campbell’s The Living Oracles, Paul’s exhortation to the saints in Rome is that they give themselves as living sacrifices to God, which is translated as their “reasonable service.” In the RSV, NASV and NIV it is rendered “spiritual worship” or “service of worship.” In spite of the disputed wording in this text, when “the whole of God’s Word” is considered, the following is reasonable and scriptural to conclude: All worship offered to God can be thought of as service rendered to God, but not all service rendered to God is necessarily worship of God. As a good parent, a Christian is serving God by tending to the bodily needs of an infant, but it is ridiculous to say in so doing the parent is worshiping God. At that moment, the worship of God is not in the mind of the parent. Worship of God involves intent and purpose of heart, a conscious disposition of mind to express praise and adoration. Think about it.