Excuse me, but your purpose is showing. That’s right. The way one lives reveals the real reason for living. Actions really do speak louder than words.

RECAP: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask of God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” James 1:5-8.

CONCLUSION: Following Jesus

Jesus told us to make disciples of all nations. A disciple is a person who learns from and follows the pattern of his or her master. Jesus' frequent call was “follow me”. It is not possible to follow anyone if we insist on going our own way, or going at our own pace. We are not called to be “converted”, we are not called to be “Christians”, we are not called to be “churchgoers”, and we are not called to be “religious”. We are called to be disciples — to learn from our master and to put into practice what he has taught. It is true that Jesus is our brother; it is true that he is our savior; it is true that he is our friend. However he is also our LORD — the one who must be obeyed.

If we really want to do the will of God then we must be prepared to follow Jesus. He has set a pattern for our lives which will help us to see what our attitudes should be. However to be a good follower we must, more than anything else, be prepared to go where the leader goes. Jesus leads us to Calvary: the place where the old attitudes and old desires must die. Many Christians have exactly the same attitudes as their unbelieving neighbors. The faith of these Christians is nothing more than materialism dressed up with scripture. Jesus calls us to a life of self-denial, to a life that unbelievers will think foolish.

Worship

The word “Worship” has changed in meaning over the years and is presently used in a rather vague sense to mean singing to God. However, the word really means something more broadly along the lines of “giving a person the honor due to them”. Thus in years gone by their was nothing blasphemous in the English marriage ceremony when the bride and groom promised one another “with my body I thee worship”.

Knowing the full and proper meaning of the word allows us to see that true worship of God consists in bringing glory to God in order to give him the honor due to him. This might take many forms; the simplest perhaps being a basic acknowledgement of who and what God is. Paul defines it as “not conforming any longer to the pattern of the world”. It is also said “Be Holy for without holiness nobody will see the Lord”, and it follows that if they do not see him then they will not even acknowledge him — the most basic form of worship. The idea that worship consists solely in gathering together in a building, apart from the rest of the world, and singing songs is not biblical. How is God glorified when his people sing songs and those who are not yet his people do not hear the good news that they can be set free from their sins and they are left in their miserable lives, without comfort, without hope, and without even a warning of the doom that awaits them? Jesus left heaven to tell us. Most of us (the writer included) cannot even manage to tell the person next door. We glorify God by doing what he has intended and created us to do.

Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2 (1139 NIV).

Psalm 25 contains a request to know the ways of God, but also states the terms on which God makes known his ways.

God acts to glorify himself and expects his people to do likewise. The first chapter of the book of Haggai shows that God withholds his blessing and co-operation when his people try to glorify themselves rather than God. In the second chapter of that book, when the people have decided to glorify God, we find that God himself stirs up their hearts to do the work.

In Christ,