For the past couple of weeks, the Echoes of Love (what you are reading now) have been about worshiping God. Please try to connect this week’s message to the Echo of Love from two weeks ago.
When considering, “a spirituality that places Sunday worship service as the foremost of life”, we must understand what it means to live a “life of worship.” This means that in addition to the Sunday worship service, every moment of our life should be a worship to God. To understand this, we first need to read the book of Matthew 22:35-40. God says that loving God and loving our neighbors are like two sides of a coin. So it is saying that if we can connect our love for God and our love for our neighbors in our daily lives, then we can live a life of worship.
Can studying also be a worship to God? Yes, it all depends on your heart and motivation. If your motive for studying is to love and serve God and your neighbors, then studying can also become our offering. If you study in the love of God and pray that you can serve your neighbors with the knowledge and expertise you learn, then studying can become your life of worship.
Although studying can be a worship to God, sometimes this concept can be a bit tricky/iffy as we may not be certain of our ‘motivation’. Therefore, we should constantly examine our heart and align our motivation to God. Before we begin to study, we should pray first to confess our love for God and remind ourselves of the purpose of studying. However, it is offbeat if you find yourself saying that you study for God yet distance yourself from praying or reading the Bible. Therefore you should study God's word and be true to yourself before God to realign your motivations. Lastly, pondering upon how we can maintain a right ‘balance of love’ for our neighbors while studying is another good way to realign motivations as well. If you find yourself pushing the task of loving your neighbors to a “later” future, then you end up just lying to yourself.
I pray that you can worship God every moment in your life and put Sunday worship service at its foremost.
Following the shepherd…
Pastor JiWon Choi.