I woke up this morning repeating a song in Spanish that says,
“I long to know you more, to live in holiness in intimacy.
I always want to be with you. Your glory to behold for eternity.”[1]
The chorus says,
“All I want is to worship you.
All I want is to worship you.
I come to your feet to give my heart.
All I want is to please you.
All I want is to please you.
I will forever sing of your love.”
It is a song that expresses the desire to know God more, intimacy that leads to our holiness. These words express the longing that every believer should have as his primary focus. As I sang it this morning, that’s what I was expressing to the Lord. My desire is to know Him, to be intimate with Him, and eventually to behold His glory for eternity.
This was St. Paul’s life focus.
“What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ…I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,” Philippians 3:8, 10
Paul literally left everything to know Christ. He considered everything lost and trash to gain Christ. He wanted to know him, “the power of his resurrection, and partake of his sufferings” so that he would be as much as he was even in his death and partake of his resurrection.
The process of knowing Christ is lifelong and must keep growing. This month marks forty years of knowing Christ for me. Like every believer, I have experienced ups and downs in the Christian life, arid times that led me to drift away from God. Suffering, doubts, discouragement and everything that is part of our daily lives. But over the years my focus has been on knowing my Lord. This desire has continued to grow, “I long to know you more, to live in holiness in intimacy.” Our world with its desires and its culture seems less attractive to me. My desire to behold his glory for eternity is more evident.
This song made me think of eternity. In eternity we will behold his glory. As we behold his glory our response will be one of worship. This is the worship happening right now around the throne of God. Heavenly beings worship Him day and night saying,
“Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
“‘Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,’
who was, and is, and is to come.” (Rev. 4:8)
In doing so, the twenty-four elders representing believers of all ages unite in worship,
” he twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.” (Rev. 4:10-11)
God’s glory and holiness lead heavenly beings and believers to worship God. This worship will be perpetual and universal (Psalm Psalm 39:5; 86:9; Jer. 16:19; Apoc. 15:4). What will this be like? I personally believe that the worship of God is a result produced by the glory and holiness of God. No one can stand before the Lord without worshiping Him. It is obvious that our state will be perfect, and that our worship will be perfect. This perpetual worship will be easy to carry out because we will know the glory and holiness of the Lord as we have never known it before. This worship will be as natural as singing a song constantly as I have been doing this morning. Songs are expressions of our heart to God for who He is in His character, for what He has done for us, and for what He will do. I think each of us will also worship God in a unique way and God will welcome it.
Why is God pleased with our worship? Because God created us to worship Him (Ephesians 1:6). This is the main reason for our existence. Worshipping God should come most naturally to us. But we know that even as believers we lack perfection in our worship of Him. But it should not be an excuse. We must continue to know Him (even in His sufferings) and as we spend more time with Him in intimacy, the more we will yearn for Him, the more we will worship Him, and the less we will desire from this world with His desires. We will be holier. Psalm 29:2 invites us to worship Him:
” Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.”
You can do this with a song, praying to Him, spending time in His Word, and acknowledging Him in everything you do today.
[1] Lo Único que Quiero. Lyrics & Music By: Israel Chaparro & Esteban Alvarado
