This morning as I was reading my Bible, the phrase that stuck out to me was from Exodus when Moses was conveying the Lord’s message to Pharaoh. God told Moses to go tell Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so they can worship me.” (Exodus 8:1). This same sentence is found multiple times throughout Exodus, but today it reminded me of why we are set free. We are supposed to use that freedom for worship!
If you’ve read my previous blog posts, you know how I’ve begged God to let me be free from my struggle with overeating. I literally felt chained to food and thought that I’d never be free from my habits of indulging in this type of pleasure. I would try to change in my own strength but couldn’t seem to overcome this type of addiction. It wasn’t until reading “Breaking Free” by Beth Moore and really applying the Bible to my life that I could see that God could change ANYBODY. If He has the power to perform the many miracles in the Bible (including a virgin birth!), He could make me healthy and thin.
But today I realized that the purpose of my freedom is much like the Israelites’ when they were freed from slavery. God told Pharaoh to let His people go so that they could worship HIM! Instead of worshiping food or personal pleasure, we are to offer ourselves as a sacrifice to God.
I feel like this is something I’ve screwed up lately. I am thrilled to have lost weight, but I haven’t been faithful about turning that back into worship where it belongs. It’s all too easy to begin to take credit for little successes or indulge in other ways like buying new clothes, etc. But, my journey began and needs to remain focused on God. Just like it was the Lord who granted the Israelites their freedom, I believe wholeheartedly that He was the One who freed me from my former life.
This morning I was invited out to breakfast at a big buffet that has all sorts of yummy offerings. My Dad was paying and my sister was going as well. But, I realized that that wasn’t what I needed, particularly this time of year. I wasn’t sure I could say no once I got there, so I decided against going. And I was feeling a little bad about it. But, instead of being out at a restaurant, I went to my piano and literally worshiped the Lord. And I felt SO much better than if I would have gone and indulged in what I knew to be wrong for me personally. God is worth more than anything in my life!
Today, may I encourage you to use your freedom that God is giving you to worship Him. If you still feel like you need more freedom, start with the step of worship. Begin your journey with praising Him and make each step about His righteousness. You’ll find yourself crossing over from slavery to a much better place when you do.
I’m continuing to seek God and asking Him to release me from my desires to indulge in personal pleasure rather than His glory. And I’m going to try to focus on worshiping Him rather than myself. May He receive all the glory and honor from my life!
Dear God, we thank You for being holy and righteous and worthy of praise. Lord, we confess that we are sinful and unworthy of being on your worship team. But, if You’re willing, You can free us from the sin we’ve entangled ourselves in and allow us to stand before You without spot or blemish. Please forgive us! Allow us to journey with You into the place You have for us, so that we can worship You forever. May You be glorified by all we say, do and think. In Jesus’ Name, AMEN!
VALGOOD 