The Way of the Father: Lessons From My Dad, Truths About GodSample

While reading the Old Testament prophets, I began to explore and try to understand what truly gets God’s attention. In my study, He revealed to me that worship goes hand-in-hand with justice. There is an obedience, an action, an expression, that connects to the outward display of praise. Taking care of widows and orphans, investing the time and energy to help people who have fallen down and help get them “out of the ditch.” Those sorts of acts of obedience are worship. For God, they are connected. They must be connected.

As God has taught me more and more from His Word and I have come to better understand His heart, I have discovered the best way we can change the world is one heart, one life at a time. We see in the Gospels that is exactly what Jesus did. From the guy at the homeless shelter who’s felt invisible and unloved for years, to the co-worker who’s struggling in a marriage, to the neighbor who knows that when you say you’ll pray for their family, you actually do. People want to experience authenticity, not celebrity. They desire interaction with integrity, not entertainment. They want to know their lives have a purpose. We have the privilege of sharing the good news that they can know the One who holds their hope and their future; that their heavenly Father loves them deeply and has a purpose and a plan for their lives.

Another powerful lesson I learned from my dad’s life is that worship is not a Sunday morning event, but a life experience. Not about singing a handful of songs once a week, but about our day-in-and-day-out interactions with people, from our living room to the office, from our spouse to the cashier at the convenience store. Worship is our expression of God’s love and life to the world. Justice is joining God in bringing His righteousness to the world.

What if we could all accept our identity in Christ that we are His beloved?

What if we stopped trying to earn grace that we have already been given?

He already calls us His own, so the focus is not to be on what we can do, but what He has done.

What is one way your personal worship and justice can connect?

Who has God placed in your life that He wants to reach through you?