“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.” ~Romans 12:1

This was the daily Bible verse on my phone the other day, just a simple little sentence, and my goodness was I convicted by it. I have written about our bodies being a temple before. I knew all about that, and the righteousness and holiness and standards we are called to uphold. But in spite of all these ‘clues’, I’m not sure I ever thought of my body as a symbol of worship.

I know, I know, I should have made the leap a long time ago. I just never thought of it that way. I worship with my body, I use my body to sing and dance and lift my hands high as I exalt His holy name. But to have my body as a whole be my worship, my true and proper worship….that just takes things to a whole new level.

Our worship is a direct reflection of our beliefs. If we worship passionately (and mean it), we need to have a passionate heart, a heart that passionately believes God is everything He says He is. If our worship is just lukewarm, well, maybe we have our doubts about God right now or maybe we are letting worldly norms get in the way of our worshiping with abandon. Either way, our worship is a reflection of our hearts.

To have our very bodies be that way though, with everything that our bodies do in a day, brings us to such a deeper form of worship. Everything from what we wear, to what we eat, to our appearance, to how we move, to how we talk, becomes a manifestation of our worship. How we care for our bodies, how we treat them both while alone and in the presence of others, the very thoughts we think and the words we say all play a part. Our bodies become, basically, a symbol of what we think the God we serve is worth.

Thinking of it this way, I realize I don’t do nearly enough to care for or present my body in a way that implies worship. Sure I do the basics. But after reading this verse I’m realizing I don’t do nearly enough.

Consider this post a call to join me, to live more intentionally and with fuller awareness of how our bodies do and do not glorify God in any given moment. To draw closer to God and go deeper in the ways that we, quite literally, walk in worship.

God bless!

~Rebekah A