MAY MY STEPS BE WORSHIP

"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?"  

Micah 6:8

I was recently touched by a sacred song, "Father, God, Just For Today." As I consider the sentiments of this poem, I realize again how important it is to me, to be pleasing to my God, that I might hear Him say to me "Well done! Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master."

Father, God, Just For Today

Father God just for today

Help me walk the narrow way

Help me stand when I might fall

Lend me the strength to hear your call

Refrain

May my steps be worship,

May my thoughts be praise,

May my words bring honor to Your name,

May my steps be worship,

May my thoughts be praise,

May my words bring honor to Your name.

Here I am just for today

Live in me, have Your way

For my desire when this race is run

Is only to hear You say. "Well done!

I have been thinking and meditating a lot on this song lately.  And as I sing each stanza, I keep being reminded of a text in the Bible which is found in Ephesians, concerning our walk with the Lord; a walk that must be worthy of His calling. 

"Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.... For ye were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord: walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth), proving what is well-pleasing unto the Lord; and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them; for the things which are done by them in secret it is a shame even to speak of.  But all things when they are reproved are made manifest by the light: for everything that is made manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee. Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil."  Ephesians 5:1-17

So, I would like to take advantage of the words of this song and use them to talk about how our steps can be worship to Him.  Let us consider the worship part of our walk with Him:

My first question would be:  What is worship and what is its purpose?

Why don't we go to the Sacred Text to find out what worship to our God involves?

1.  Sacrifice and obedience:  Genesis 22:1-12

2.  Offering and service:  I Chronicles 16:29

3.  Bowing down and kneeling:  Psalm 95:6

4.  Fear and reverence:  Psalm 96:9

5.  Bowing down and prostrating:  Psalm 38:6

6.  Sacrifice and offering:  Isaiah 19:21

7.  Service:  Matthew 4:8-10

8.  Sacrifice:  Romans 12:1

In reading these texts about worship, we can evidently see that there are two crucial aspects:  

1.  Bowing down, kneeling, prostrating

2.  Sacrifice, service

The line "May my steps be worship," is expressing a genuine appeal to God to help us walk in a way that is reverent as a sacrifice and as our service to Him.  Those two aspects are crucial to our worship of God:  Bowing down, kneeling, prostrating, sacrifice and service.

With these in mind, let us consider the implications of bowing down as an act of worship.

I want to start by asking, what is the importance of bowing down, kneeling or prostrating oneself before the throne of God?  And what does this have to do with the act of worshipping God?  Why don't we go to the source of Truth and read what the Text has to say about this?

"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?"  Micah 6:8.  This is one of my all-time favorite texts of the Bible.

"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you."  James 4:10

"Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.  Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you."'  I Peter 5:5-6

Sacrifice and Service as an act of worship:

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."  Romans 12:1

What does it mean to offer a sacrifice that is acceptable worship to God?  And what does it mean to be a living sacrifice?  And finally, what does that involve?

Consider the steps we must follow:

1. Our song indicates those great and wise choices we must make, that we may walk His narrow Way.  It is important that we realize that every choice or decision that we make in life is going to carry us toward righteousness or failure.  Our steps or actions can indicate a life of praise, worship, service and honor to our Creator.
2. Our steps must be worthy of our calling:  "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called."  Ephesians 4:1
3. Every choice, decision, step or walk must shine our light before men.  Our steps show our good works and glorify God. "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."  Matthew 5:16
4. Our steps must prove our transformation, the renewing of our mind:  what is good, acceptable and perfect will of God.  

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."  Romans 12:2

All of these steps are worship to our God.  Let us apply each one of them in our daily walk with our God.  Let us also show diligent service of worship to Him as living sacrifices.  I would leave you with this question: 

• What steps of service and sacrifice are you willing to make to render worship to our Father in heaven?
• Are you willing to die to self and allow His Way live in you?  
• Whose child are you? Are you God’s child or Satan’s?
• Do you want to run your race, exercising self-discipline so that you may end well? 
• Do you want to win and be qualified to receive your prize, the crown of life?
• Are you willing to be a faithful and a good slave bearing good fruit, that you may hear your Father in heaven say to you "well done! Enter into the joy of your Master?  
• I don't know about you, but I want to hear my Master say those words to me on that final day.  Perish the thought, that He might say to me "Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels."  Matthew 25:41.

May we walk the Narrow Way in a manner worthy of our calling.  May we humbly ask Him to give us strength whenever we should fall short, that we not forsake His Way of righteousness.  May each step we walk be a step of worship, praise, and honor to His name.

Luci