As we observe the fifty days of this Easter season, let’s recommit our allegiance and devotion to God.
By Jillian Morrison, Associate Pastor, Glendora, California
“Let go of everything that doesn’t serve you and embrace my joy.” This is what God inspired me to practice every day during the Easter Preparation season (Lent). Regardless of how you may have observed the season, consider what God might be leading you to let go of and embrace in this new season of the Christian Worship Calendar.
We are now in the Easter season, the fifty days between Easter Sunday and Pentecost, a time in the worship calendar that gives us an opportunity to reflect on what we just celebrated: The resurrection of Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of the Christian faith, and what it means for us today and through eternity. We also celebrate the Ascension during this season.
After reaching a colossal verdict, former atheist and investigative journalist, Lee Strobel, stated these obvious implications regarding the resurrection of Christ:
If Jesus overcame the grave, He’s still alive and available for me to personally encounter. If Jesus conquered death, He can open the door of eternal life for me too. If He has divine power, He has the supernatural ability to guide and transform me as I follow Him. As my Creator who has my best interests at heart, He rightfully deserves my allegiance and worship.[1]
Our loving Creator God is surely alive, and he speaks to us today. He has our best interests at heart and seeks to guide and transform us to be more like him as we daily choose to follow him. We worship and pledge our allegiance to the triune God because he deserves our total worship and allegiance.
As we observe the fifty days of this Easter season, let’s recommit our allegiance and devotion to God.
Though often associated with religion, worship isn’t just “something religious people do” – it’s something everyone does. Worship is woven into the very fabric of our spiritual DNA, for human beings were made for worship.
In her book, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us, Adele Ahlberg Calhoun explains:
Worship reveals the somethings or someones we value most. What we love and adore and focus on forms us into the people we become. Many of us are devoted to the same things our culture worships: houses, money, retirement plans, vacations, comforts, success. In and of themselves none of these things is bad. But when we value these things more than we value God, we end up worshiping secondary things. Secondary things can never satisfy core longings. Only a love relationship with our Creator can do that.[2]
As followers of Jesus Christ, we know that we love God because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). We know that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). But what’s important to recognize is that loving God is not passive or automatic – loving God is a spiritual practice, which means it needs to be a conscious, active, daily choice. Just like in our marriages and various relationships, we will naturally drift towards isolation and independence if we’re not intentional about working towards oneness through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Loving and worshiping God means depending on him, trusting him, and surrendering our very lives in utter devotion, loyalty, adoration, and commitment.
The spiritual desire behind Christian worship is “to honor and adore the Trinity as the supreme treasure of life.”[3] It is telling God, “Have your way with me.”
The spiritual practice of Christian worship can include:
- Focusing on and responding to God with your whole being
- Offering our body as a “spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12:1)
- Responding to God’s truth with loving obedience
- Regularly engaging with a worshiping community
- Seeking first the kingdom of God, keeping secondary things second[4]
The God-given fruit of Christian worship can include:
- Keeping company with Jesus no matter what happens
- Fulfilling your God-given longing to adore and praise your Creator
- Meeting God and bringing him joy
- Joining the company of saints in heaven and on earth who continually magnify the Lord
- Doing your part in growing your relationship with God
- Growing in faith, hope, and love by basking in the presence of God[5]
Here are other spiritual practices to consider during the Easter season:
- Practice forgiveness – One of the ways we practice resurrection in daily life is through forgiveness. We forgive others because God in Jesus forgave all humanity. Live in the truth that you are forgiven eternally in Christ!
- Practice reverence for life – Be fully present to the miracle of life all around you: People, animals, insects, plants. Notice the continual process of renewal on earth in the changing seasons.
- Practice compassion – Open your heart, mind, and soul to the pain of the world and respond with the compassion of Christ.
- Embrace the power of play – Be refreshed by the simplest of life’s pleasures: Laughter, games, naps, play. Remember to have fun and enjoy God’s abundance!
May you be blessed this Easter season as you surrender to the will of God and honor him as the great treasure of life!
[1] Lee Strobel, The Case for Easter: A Journalist Investigates the Evidence for the Resurrection (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003), 88.
[2] Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 25, 45.
[3] Ibid., 44.
[4] Ibid., 44.
[5] Ibid.
Thank you Adele. I find your words encouraging, uplifting, and desiring to live life to the full. Thanks again.
Pastor Jillian, as you do locally every time you speak, you have hit the ball out of the park with this news Eastertide article. Your language and imagery and references create a beautiful word picture. Thank you for your excellent example.
Thank you Jillian .. very deep stuff, often not mentioned as much as love but they go together. A very fine powerful little article .. In the Kingdom ..Joy beyond our grasping but soon to come.