How often do we question why God wants us to worship Him?
The erroneously held belief that God demands worship is a stumbling block to many people including those who have a firm faith in God. So let us tackle this issue from a spiritual perspective and we will soon conclude that our God is a God of love and mercy, not an egotistical monster (khaslee) that some would have us believe.
God has provided His special creation with a free will, meaning we have the choice to either serve Him or serve ourselves and although this interpretation may seem overly simplistic I firmly affirm that these are the only two paths available in life. With this magnificent gift of free will God has actually demonstrated His love and mercy for His creation, how? Well let’s look at it from society’s perspective, we live in what is known as a free, democratic society where we are able to flourish and as long as we obey the law we are generally free to live our lives the way we want (although this freedom can and usually is abused). This is not so in many countries where a dictatorship is in place, such society’s often enslave their people and rob them of thought. These dictator’s force their people to hang pictures of them upon walls in their homes and to publicly affirm their support for the dictator and may be severely punished should they not conform. Which society would you rather live in?
God, on the other hand, does not want us to come to Him out of force, He does not force us to love Him or accept Him nor does He require any need of us to do so (His love for us is for our benefit, not the other way around). Unlike the dictator who forces his people to submit to him, God does not force us to believe, worship or trust in Him, God wants us to come to Him out of love. God wants us to exercise our free will when deciding whether or not to worship Him and as I pointed out earlier, freedom can be abused. Although we have a choice in worshipping, God would prefer that we do turn to Him not because it benefits Him, but rather for our own benefit. Who, being a loving parent, would not warn their child on the disastrous effects of drugs? Although ultimately it is the child’s choice the parent realises that it is for their child’s own benefit, and it would be wise for that child to listen to their parents as drugs can have detrimental effects on the user.
God will respect your choice and although He has given us instructions to follow, should we choose not to comply then there are consequences, those consequences are spending an eternity without God and this is torment, this is literally hell. God will grant you your request and again we can see that God will not force you to reside with Him, rather He grants you your desire and completely deserts you. God realises that this is a terrible situation for YOU and will constantly try to draw you to Him, no one will be able to face God and say “you never revealed yourself to me”.
Like a good parent, God continually warns us to serve and worship Him because He has prepared so much joy, love, peace and happiness for us in His kingdom and He desires for us to share in it. He wants our worship because He wants us to partake in His divine nature (see 2nd Peter 1 :4) and for us to receive a crown of glory, not because it makes Him feel all powerful! He does not want our worship because He is egotistical (khaslee) if He were egotistical He would simply force us to obey Him and what choice would we have? We would be living under a dictatorship!
God demonstrated His love for us by doing something unimaginable, becoming like one of us and being destroyed by us to ultimately save us and guide us back to Him! Where is the egotism in this act? This is an act of pure humility, love and mercy shown to His creation! St Paul states that for a wicked man, rarely will someone die but for a good man someone may be willing to die, but Christ died for us whilst we were still sinners! There is no room for selfishness in this act, it is selfless, beautiful, merciful and full of love.
Praise His name for ever and ever!
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