When God created the first man, Adam, He didn't do it with the purpose of creating one to serve Him. He already had a host of angels who would serve Him and do it perfectly. Neither did He fashion man for the purpose of expanding His wealth or source of counsel. Because God is all in all, complete in Himself, and counsel is not needed by all wisdom. God created us in His own image, giving us the ability to know Him and in knowing Him, to worship Him. We were created to worship.
A.W. Tozer, pastor, teacher, and author wrote these words: "The purpose of God in sending His Son to die and rise and live and be at the right hand of God the Father was that He might restore to us the missing jewel, the jewel of worship; that we might come back and learn to do again that which we were created to do in the first place - worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness to spend our time in awesome wonder and adoration of God, feeling and expressing it. We're here to be worshippers first and workers second."
Work that does not grow out of worship is like sticking a tree limb cutting in wet dirt. It may stay green for a day or so, but will then die because of a lack of a living root system.
We were created to worship first and work second. What is our work? Jesus said, . . . "in the same way the Father has sent me, I send you. Then He breathed on them and said to receive the Holy Spirit for the work of redemption." (Manley paraphrase of John 20:21-23.) Being rooted in worship and praise, our work is to create new worshippers. That concept sounds familiar - "Love the Lord thy God . . . and thy neighbor as thyself." Created to worship and in the power of His Spirit to create worshippers! mjm
