In John 14:15, Jesus says, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”  In other words, worship is obedience.  So, for October’s focus on Worship, we turn to Eugene Peterson’s book entitled A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society.

God doesn’t change: He seeks and He saves. And our response to God as He reveals Himself in Jesus doesn’t change: we listen and we follow. Or we don’t. When we are dealing with the basics—God and our need for God—we are at bedrock. We start each day at the beginning with no frills.

Peterson’s book led to a fresh translation of the Holy Scriptures, The Message. In fact, the fifteen Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120—134) that provide the text here for developing “discipleship in an instant society” provided the impetus for embarking on this new translation. Peterson originally was focused on simply translating the Psalms into the idiomatic North American language.

Click here for a summary of A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

Securing the future is a paramount desire of humanity.  As Dr. Sam Jordan wrote in The Matthew 6:33 Principle, “God did not endow us with the ability to know the future. Having knowledge of the future was put off limits to us (Deuteronomy 18:10-12; 29:29).”

Fear is the dominating factor surrounding the possibilities.  God made provisions for His followers that include protection, guidance, wisdom, and the revelation of many secret things (Psalms 25:10-14; 91:1-16; Daniel 2:19-22).

Jordan seeks to project a concept, namely, that God has an explicit plan for all creation. Moreover, He supplies the necessary requirements to fulfill His purpose. As we continue our October focus on the Spiritual Discipline of Worship, this is an important reminder about who we worship.

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