A Sunday New Year

I love that New Years Day fell on Sunday. I wish that happened every year!  Then the first thing we would do at the start of every new year is celebrate Jesus with the church and then intentionally dedicate and sacrifice the new year to him. There is no way more fitting to start a new year than to worship. 

Having loved what we experienced with the body of Christ on Sunday morning, our family also created some worship time at home. Not planned, just spontaneous, as it sometimes should be. So I snapped this shot to remind me of how 2017 started. 

Beginning the new year with corporate worship at church and then sweet family worship at home challenges me to make worship the everyday anthem and heartbeat of 2017. 

The cool thing is: worship can but doesn't have to happen at the piano. It doesn't even have to happen at church. It is the prayers we pray, the ways we love and serve, the conversations we have, the attitudes we display, the decisions we make, the grace with which we handle stress, the patience with which we suffer. Anything that lifts up Jesus, gives him worth, or inclines our hearts and the hearts of others toward him...that's worship.

I have found that worship is the solution to everything. Feeling good? Worship. Feeling bad? Worship. Don't know what to do? Worship. Need a new resolution for 2017? Worship. 

The Bible teaches us that worship is what we are made to do; it is our very purpose. And when we give our worship to the Only One who is worthy of it all, we find our satisfaction, fulfillment, joy, and our highest pleasure and purpose. This simple truth has transformed my life. More than anything else, I want to be known as a worshipper of the King of kings - someone who is always inclined to worship and who leads others to do the same. 

So why am I going to Africa? To worship the God of all nations and help others enter into this life-giving worship, too. Why do you have your job? Go to your school? Stay home with your kids? Participate in that group? Help out with that something? To worship God and show others how to worship him too. 

The new year can be overwhelming, especially if you have a long list of resolutions and things you want to do differently. We can get discouraged and feel guilty pretty quick. So if you want to know a place to start, a central focus to revolve all over things around, consider this: let's make 2017 all about worship. May it be the most worshipful year yet. 

And may the One and Only receive all that he is so worthy to have!