Offering my body in worship

During the past few months of blogging, I’ve been looking at various elements of worship. Just as we don’t limit worship to a single day of the week but rather see it as a way of life, so we don’t limit worship to merely something that occupies our minds or our hearts. God invites us to offer every part of our bodies and every aspect of our beings in worship to Him.

I love how Dale Vander Veen expresses this in these reflections he recently wrote…

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“I urge you, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies
as living sacrifices.”  – Romans 12:1

How blessed I am that God would invite me to offer myself to him. How blessed I would be even if God grabbed hold of me and dragged me to his altar! But the God of grace prefers to invite, call, court, woo, wait, allure, and at times nudge me.

How do I offer myself to God? In a very earthy way. “offer the parts of your body to him.” Wouldn’t this be an appropriate prayer?

— Lord, take my feet that I may walk in your ways.
— Take my legs that I may stand firm in you.
— Take my knees that I may bow in worship before you.
— Take my arms that I may embrace your children.
— Take my hands that I may do your work.
— Take my fingers that I may write your thoughts.
— Take my heart that I may pulse with your love.
— Take my lungs that I may breathe the freshness of your Spirit.
— Take my lips that I may speak your words.
— Take my eyes that I may see your world.
— Take my ears that I may hear the cries of your people.
— Take my mind that I may think your truth.
— Take my will that I may be wholeheartedly yours.

I am blessed, blessed indeed, from head to toe, inside and out.

…Dale offers these reflections with the prayer that today you and I see God’s altar as the place of your life, not your death.
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