Background Story: Colossians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul while he was imprisoned in Rome to the church in Colosse.

Read Colossians 3:12-17

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Big Idea: Authentic worship is not words we sing but the life we live.

We’ve all had a “friend” that is nice to our face, but acts differently when they are around other people. This fake friendship doesn’t sit well with us because we know that true friendship is more than just words. It requires consistency. Worship is like that. In Isaiah 29:23, God says, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”

Worship is an expression of adoration, and it can be easy to think worship only occurs when the band is playing at church. But authentic worship is way more than the words we sing during a church or youth group service. Worship is a lifestyle.

In Romans 12:1, we read, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

Therefore, in remembering and considering all that Christ has done for you, offer your whole self as worship. We worship by clothing ourselves with, “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” and by forgiving others “as the Lord forgave you.” We worship when we express thankfulness, love the unlovable, financially give, and serve others, “in the name of the Lord Jesus”.

Let’s not leave our worship in our seat at church. Let’s express adoration to God in our quiet moments with Him, in the halls at school, in our relationships, in how we spend our time, in our speech, and how we serve others. Before we move on with our day, let’s take an unfiltered selfie of our heart. What is our worship like? Is our worship merely words we say or is our heart devoted to Him? Take that unfiltered heart selfie to God today in prayer.

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Dig Deeper: Ephesians 3:21-4:4, Philippians 1:20-22, Colossians 3:1-10, John 13:1-15, John 13:35, Psalm 138:1-2, Matthew 6:1-21, 1 Chronicles 28:9, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 2 Corinthians 9:7, 1 Corinthians 10:31

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