Worship

This devotional is written by Dave Holden. Head of Worship :: Music Producer :: Film Composer

2 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

The living Stone and a chosen people 4 As you come to him, the living Stone - rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him - 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:

'See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.'

7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

'The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,'

8 and,

'A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.'

They stumble because they disobey the message - which is also what they were destined for.

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Living godly lives in a pagan society

11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

 The way in which we worship God can take on many forms - we can sing, speak aloud, dance, paint, we can do this in private or we can come and worship together as a congregation. The way in which we worship is often quite specific to us and our gifts from God which He has nurtured over time. But in essence, worship is giving God what is rightly His. He has given us the opportunity of eternal life, so our acts of worship are our way of expressing thanks and praise to the One who gave us this gift.

At the start of 1 Peter, we are reminded of this gift of eternal life that God has given us through Jesus' death. Here in chapter 2, Peter explains that now this gift has been given to you, and that you have 'tasted that the Lord is good', it is time to walk with God and be drawn out of the darkness and into the light.

We are chosen by God, chosen to be priests, to be a holy people. In the ancient world, priests were put in place to act as a bridge between God and His people. Of course it is still done like this today in some faiths, but God has made us all priests. We have been given direct access to Him. Therefore it is up to us to give God what is rightly His, to lead a worship-filled life that is: to let horrible thoughts be washed away, and to be kind to others as we have been shown kindness from God. In the same way we must love one another, and show grace and mercy to those around us. It's not about keeping up with the latest Hillsong release, or being on stage in the band on a Sunday. Those are expressions of worship yes, but it's about living your life in the knowledge that you have been chosen by God.

So whether you're a brand new shiny Christian or you've been around long enough that you feel a part of the furniture, it is these basics which we must visit or revisit daily; to walk each day as if God has chosen you to live and breathe His awesome nature through you; to shine a light in the darkness.