God has been taking us through a wealth of revelations on worship this season. This is to enable us “be thankful and so worship God acceptably” as the writer of the book of Hebrews enjoined us.  Click here to subscribe to my thrice daily podcasts and listen to these messages anytime and anywhere.

There are many today who, like Simon of Cyrene, are laboring under the heavy load of religious routines and sacrifices, but whose lives are as cursed and as miserable as ever. When you see these people, you might be tempted to view God as wicked and ungrateful.

All around us today, we see a lot of people going out of their way to worship God. Folks make enormous sacrifices for God. They sacrifice their time, talents, and money — some practically sleep in church. They give their lands and sell their houses and cars. They give up their salaries, school fees and a multitude of other things. And you probably would often hear others make comments like, “Oh! What a man. This man loves God. This man is serving God.  Oh, this woman loves to worship God; she’s sacrificing so much for God!”

I remember a particular lady who despite the multitude of her sacrifices to God, couldn’t seem to cross a particular exam hurdle in her school studies.  One day, I blurted this out to God, “Lord, the least you can do is to help her pass this exam. This lady has abandoned everything to worship you. She has sacrificed everything for you — her career, her studies, her money, everything — just to be able to worship you! God, the least you can do is to remove failure from her life.”

These people labour from sunrise to sunset in the ‘service of the Lord’, giving up all that they have in worship. Yet, God doesn’t seem to notice what they are doing. Astonishingly, you watch their lives and there are no signs of God’s acknowledgement of these sacrifices. It’s as if God is not responding to them in any way. It makes you wonder a lot of times whether God was wicked.

If you were to venture close to them, however, you would notice that they are grumbling and cursing God right under their breath! They are being compelled to do what they are doing. They are reluctant givers.

And I ask you today, is your worship acceptable to God? Does God really accept it? Does He acknowledge it? Is He mindful of the things you’ve given up for Him? Does He respond to your services and sacrifices for Him?

Take out time from your busy schedule and reflect on it today.