God Allows Us to Worship Him

This is Day 17 of my 40 Day Lenten blog.

God does not need us to worship Him. We are the ones that need to worship Him. He graciously allows us to do so.

In Luke 7, Jesus dines with a Pharisee and a sinful woman (presumably a prostitute) finds out He is there. She goes into the house, uninvited, to worship Jesus. She crawls at Jesus' feet, kissing them, washing them with her tears, drying them with her hair, and anoints them with very expensive oil. For His part Jesus does not even acknowledge her for a long time. He continues with His dinner while she worships Him.

The Pharisee can't believe that Jesus would allow this filthy sinful woman to touch Him. She is far below Him. But Jesus does allow it. He has no need for her to kiss and anoint His feet. In fact, it causes a scandal with the pious Jews. But He allows her to worship Him because He is gracious.

Jesus is far above me as well. I have no right to worship Him either. But He is gracious enough to allow me to. He is gracious enough to let me love Him. He is gracious enough to let me serve Him. He is even gracious enough that He is going to let a filthy sinner like me live in His house for eternity.

Today's prayer: Lord, thank You for allowing me to worship You. I am unworthy to kiss the ground you have walked on, but You have generously invited me to be Yours forever. I am grateful beyond words. Amen.

R.C. VanLandingham lives in Florida with his wife and kids. He is the author of several books including the Christian fantasy books Peter Puckett & The Amulet of Eternity, Peter Puckett & the Enchanted Chalice, and Magdalene Hope & the Elves of Evermore.