Daily Devotion: The Word Revealed - Worship Involves the Worshiper Totally: Worshiping With Our Bodies - Romans 12:1, Psalm 95 & 96

In the previous two The Word Revealed devotionals we explored four of the five essential principles of worshiping our Lord with the totality of our being.  Corporate worship should always involve the one worshiping in a very personal and intimate manner which involves the worshipper totally.  Today we explore the fact that worship, which involves the worshipper totally, must include how we worship the Lord with our Bodies.

Worship with our Bodies

Romans 12:1 identifies believers’ bodies as living sacrifices to the glory and praise of God.  In a worship service we are to express our love for God with our bodies as we stand in reverence, bow in humility, kneel in prayer, and shout out an Amen.  Psalm 95:6, “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”  Psalm 96:1-2. “Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.”  Psalm 47:1-2, “Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph! For the Lord Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth.”  Our Savior fell on His face as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Paul knelt with the Ephesian elders to pray, they wept, they hugged, and they kissed.  Is there any doubt concerning what was communicated about their love for God and each other?

The manner in which we sit in a worship service reveals our love for the Lord.  Do we settle in, or are we sitting up paying rapt attention because we are engaged in communicating with the love of our life?  Do we have a joyful smile on our face as we hear of God’s grace shown to us in Christ Jesus, or does a frown best describe our response to the good news of the gospel?  Do we sing with enthusiasm and love, or do we cross our arms and wait for the hymn to come to the end? 

Physical expression, or body language, communicates what is occurring in the heart and mind.  At airports, you can tell if the one being met at the gate is the object of the greeter’s love and affection, or if they are a casual acquaintance.   Our body language communicates love, hate, joy, anger, embarrassment, passion, indifference, etc. often more effectively than our words.  Some feel that what they do physically in worship is their private business.  Actually, everything you do, and don’t do, in a worship service speaks volumes to everyone gathered for worship.  But even more importantly, our body language speaks volumes to our God. 

The key issue in worshiping the Lord with our bodies is to always answer this question: “Is whatever is done with my body done to the glory of God, or for my glory?”  Our motivation must always be directed to the worship of God.  To Him alone be all praise, honor and glory.

Conclusion

Our worship of the Lord is to involve our Mind, Heart, Will, Possessions, and Bodies. These five aspects of how worship should involve the worshiper totally are extremely important in our love relationship with God.  This is true for several reasons.  However, the one truth to be emphasized in this conclusion is that these aspects of your total involvement in worship become normative.  When you purposefully pursue engaging your mind with God’s Word, it becomes a fruitful habit of love.  When you tear down the barriers that prevent your heart from being moved by who God is and His work of salvation in your life, your heart becomes increasingly softened and filled with joy and gladness.  When you pray for the Lord to convict you of sin and convince you of His grace, it will become the loving rhythm of your life.  When you plan to give lovingly as God’s Word calls you to, it brings you joy and blessing without end.  When you think about what your body language does and doesn’t communicate about your love of Him, you learn to regularly communicate your love effectively.  Worship is our great expression of love to our Lord.  Worship is essential as we pursue the goal of growing more passionately in love with Him who first loved us.