Worship Jesus (Being Like the Sinful Woman Part 4)
This is the fourth part of my blog series on Being like the Sinful Woman which was originally published during Lent 2019. I introduced the story of the sinful woman from Luke 7 in Part 1. Please start there if you have not read it already.
The sinful woman from Luke 7 possessed seven attributes that are indispensable when coming to Jesus. The third is that she worshipped Jesus. Throughout the Scriptures we are commanded to worship the Lord. "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand." (Psalm 95:6-7). And only God is worthy of my worship. That is why God commanded us to worship only Him for no other God (be it a golden calf, money, a favorite football team or a social media app) is worthy of worship.
Worship is an adoring reverence. When we use the term "worship" today, we often mean singing songs of praise. Jesus and His disciples also sang Psalms and hymns of praise to God, but when the Scriptures use the term worship they normally mean bowing down in awe and adoration. (See Matt 28:9, Matt. 14:33 and Rev. 19:10). When the sinful woman came before Jesus, fell to her knees and began kissing His feet, she was worshipping Him in this way. To her, Jesus was wonderful and perfect. She adored Him, and believed Him to be so high above her that she literally lowered herself down to the floor to worship Him. This type of worship is a physical demonstration, of her humility before the Lord and her love for Him. She was demonstrating by her physical actions, that she loved him with all of her heart, all of her soul, and all of her might. (Deut. 6:5).
To worship the Lord as He desires, I must love Him above all things. And that love should not be similar to the love I have for anything else in this world. To worship the Lord is to love Him with a humble and reverential adoration; to be awestruck by His greatness; to recognize how tiny I am next to His awesome power and might; and to love Him because of it. This type of worship should be reserved for the Lord alone, because He is the only one worthy of it. And not only should I worship Him and nothing else, but I should do so completely, holding nothing back from Him.
Today's prayer:
Holy Lord, I love and worship You above all things. You are Creator of all, the ruler of all, and the only one worthy of my worship. Help me to worship You properly, with reverential adoration and to love You with all of my heart, all of my soul, and all of my strength.