Behold His worth

We Bring Our Praise  

Worthy, in every season You are worthy

Your sacrifice forever perfect

Your praise unceasing, You are worthy

Faithful, through tribulation You are faithful

Your love unmoved just like the mountains

Forever with us, You are faithful

We bring an offering of praise to You

Our circumstances don’t determine what’s due

Through joy and tragedy You’re faithful and true

Oh, we bring our praise

We bring our praise to You

Sovereign, Creator, Saviour, You are sovereign

Able to use all things for our good

You bring the dead to life, You’re sovereign

Calling the nations, every tribe and every living thing

To worship, to worship You

This one obsession, one fixation we're created for

To worship, to worship You

In every storm, in every fire purify our hearts

To worship, to worship You

This is our joy, this is our full and generous reward

To worship, to worship 

Devotional

The Gospel of Matthew contains two beautiful stories, one after the other (Matthew 13:44-46).

There we see two men who own valuable things. The one finds hidden treasure, and the other owns a pearl of great value. According to the stories, one thing is common to both: Both the pearl and the treasure were of greater value than everything else those men had combined. 

It is very likely that you own one or two valuable items. They might have been inherited, or saved up for. It’s even more likely that you own things that you would describe as priceless to you: objects of great sentimental value. But it is also unlikely that, if you were faced with the choice, you would sell absolutely everything you have in order to keep that item. In fact, the first parable says the man actually went out with joy to go sell all his stuff. So let’s rephrase the question: If you were faced with the choice, would you joyfully go out and sell absolutely everything you have?

This then begs a question: How valuable must something be to elicit that sort of reaction? 

Well, to the four living creatures and twenty-four elders from Revelation, worthy enough to literally sing the same song for all of eternity. Most people would agree that listening to more than two minutes of any call-centre’s waiting jingle is almost unbearable. But that same jingle on repeat for eternity? It would have to be one incredibly important call. 

In fact, it would have to be one incredibly unique call. 

To better understand this, we can look to the book of Revelation. We read descriptions of the heavenly hosts who surround God and perpetually sing His worship (Revelation 4:8-11; 5:11-12). We hear of them listing His attributes, telling of His worth, praising His goodness and extolling Him as the giver of all life. These are powerful descriptions of a wonderfully unique God.

Being the creator of all things and giving life to all beings is indeed unique to only One. 

Laying down an absolutely perfect life to redeem by blood “persons from every tribe and language and people and nation” is indeed unique to only One (Revelation 5:9). 

When you consider Christ, do you think of Him as your greatest treasure, your pearl of great value? Do you see Him as utterly unique, deserving of the eternal songs of all the heavenly host? Do you with joy give up all you have to serve Him and to see His Kingdom come? 

None of us can give a resounding and unqualified “yes” to all of those questions, but take heart! There is hope! The way has been opened through Jesus and Christ! And He promises to be found as we grow in the knowledge of Him (2 Peter 1:3; Hebrews 10:20-23; James 4:8a).

Reflections

1. One of the ways we tend to begin to understand the value of the people around us is by spending time with them. The more we do so, the better we begin to know their heart, to understand their character, and to see the person as made in the image of God. How then does drawing near to God through the way opened by Christ enable us to treasure God in a greater measure?
2. God has given us many good things, but even good things are not to be valued above Christ. Even the elders laid their crowns down before Him. Consider your life as it is now. What would you say is the thing (or things) you treasure the most? How can these things be obstacles to you treasuring Christ?
3. The worth of God is the underlying reason behind all of our worship. What implications does a better understanding of God’s worth have for worship and for missions?