Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!The heart of what it means to worship is to respond to God. He is first, he speaks first, he acts first; and our worship is responding to his initiative toward us in our thinking, our obedience, and our praise and glorification of him. He is glorious before it occurs to us to glorify him.
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
"Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?"
"Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?"
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God---this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is---his good, pleasing and perfect will.
"Oh, the depth of the richness of the wisdom and knowledge of God!There is a spontaneity about this that we can learn from. If worship becomes too predictable, if it something that is completely planned, if we know how we will feel and what we will think at various points in a worship service or any kind of gathering in which we turn our attention to God, then we have lost something. When God displays himself, our spontaneous response ought to be more than we would have expected or different than we would have predicted.
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
'Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?'
'Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?'
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen."
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