Whether you’re standing in a chapel, a body of water, your shower, or the produce section of Target, you can worship. You can repent. You can bring a sacrifice of praise.
Full confession—I tend to be a perfectionist. I like rules, playing by the rules, following the rules, and trying to convince everyone around me to do the same. (I realize this is exhausting, trust me!)
For me, rules have always felt safe. I know what to expect with rules. I know what will or won’t happen. Essentially, rules give me a false sense of control. They create formulas in my mind. If I do “X”, God will do “X,” or “this person will do X.”
However, that’s not always the case. And in my attempts to do everything exactly the way it “should” be done or is expected, I tend to miss the beauty in the mess.
Can You Relate?
Last year, I took an autumn trip to Arkansas with my husband and was really struggling with some heavy thoughts during our stay. I was doing that other thing I tend to do—get anxious about something that might or might not actually be true and attempt to process it like it is true so that if it does come true, I’ve already dealt with it emotionally.
(Still with me? I told you it was exhausting!)
To sum it up, I was in a place of desperately needing to surrender my worries to the Lord, but I was stuck on a hamster wheel in the middle of the most beautiful scenery I’d encountered in a long time. And I was missing it because I couldn’t turn my thoughts off.
That particular afternoon, my husband was sitting on a bench up a slight hill from the lake, working on a project on his laptop. I wandered down the hill to the water’s edge, which met a very rocky beach. No sand, just dirt and mud and stones of various sizes leading into the water. I stared across the little waves lapping against the shore and tried to pray, but I felt blocked. The breeze was blowing, the sun was sparkling on the lake as far as the eye could see (it was a big lake!), and I sensed the Holy Spirit beckoning me into the water.
Mind you, this was mid-October. I was in a sweatshirt and shorts, socks, and Converse. I reminded the Holy Spirit of those facts. I wanted to go, but it wasn’t convenient. The rocks would hurt my feet. Where was my bathing suit and 90-degree temps? This was against the rules. It was too hard. The water too cold.
He patiently invited me again, and my weary heart finally acquiesced.
I toed off my Converse, balled my socks up into each shoe, and then “ouch-stepped” my way into the water. The rocks hurt. It was an effort getting into the lake. The cold water was almost painful. But by the time I waded in knee-deep, the rocks had given way to soft, water-logged sand, and my toes sank eagerly into it. The water was cold, yes, but the sun was warm and I pushed up my sleeves, closed my eyes, and took my first breath of true peace in days.
Somehow, standing in the water, connecting with creation, I was better able to talk to my Creator. I prayed, played a worship song via the phone tucked in the pocket of my cut-offs, and eventually, my worries dissolved into the water kissing my knees.
And to think I almost missed it. It wasn’t conventional. I wasn’t in a swimsuit, the water was chilly, and the rocks were painful obstacles—none of those circumstances played by “the rules.”
But that spot in the lake became an altar for me as I sacrificed my worries to God.
Because Anywhere Can Be an Altar
In the Old Testament, before Jesus became the final sacrifice for us, altars were a place for offerings to the Lord. Atonement for sin. Praises. Thanksgiving. Worship. Today, thankfully, we no longer have to kill and burn animals to pay for our sins. We’re free to repent, confess, praise, and worship from anywhere. It’s about the heart posture, not the ritual. (Praise God!)
Romans 12:1 (ESV) "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
Whether you’re standing in a chapel, a body of water, your shower, or the produce section of Target, you can worship. You can repent. You can bring a sacrifice of praise.
Hebrews 13:15-16 (ESV) "Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God."
I experienced something similar last week on vacation. My husband and I went to the beach in the Gulf Shores, Alabama area (this time, it was the ocean and real white sand, not rocks!), and once again, there was a heart issue I needed to surrender. I had been believing a lie far too long, and I knew the Lord wanted to free me from it. But you know how sometimes it’s easier to stay on the defensive? It’s easy to keep our lie as a shield because at least we know what to expect. It might be a lie, but it plays by the rules. It’s a lie I (inaccurately) believe I can control. If I surrender and release that lie and exchange it for the truth, well—that’s scary. That’s unknown.
That’s a different rulebook.
But once again, my Creator beckoned me into the waves, patiently meeting me where he knew my heart would remember—within his beautiful creation. And with the waves lapping and toes digging into the sand, I eventually surrendered my lie and cast it upon the waters.
Another altar, another sacrifice. A beautiful exchange—my lie for the truth of who I am in Christ. And because God is so generous and knows I need mementos to remember these moments by, he gave me three beautiful seashells immediately after that are currently sitting on my dresser.
Anywhere can be an altar.
Maybe you don’t have access to somewhere lovely in nature right now—I usually don’t, so I completely understand. Maybe your heart is desperate for connection with the Lord, but you keep thinking you have to wait until you get to church, make it the next altar call before you can kneel before Him and confess. Repent. Surrender. Praise.
My Friend, This Isn’t True
One of my favorite scriptures is Mark 15:38. (ESV): "And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. This beautiful moment occurred immediately after Jesus’ death on the cross, symbolizing the obstacle existing between us and God permanently, gloriously removed."
Hebrews 10:19-22 (ESV) "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."
Let that truth sink in for a moment. We have full access! We can come to God, anytime, anywhere. We can bring our sin and our failures and our praises to the Lord wherever our feet find us.
If you’re falling for the lie that you have to be in church to pray, just look at that torn veil. You can pray from your car (just please don’t shut your eyes!) while running errands or from the rocking chair in the middle of the night with your teething baby. You can repent from the deer stand or the mall. Worship from your prayer closet or the coffee shop. Your prayers are just as effective from a sofa, bar stool, or school desk.
Anywhere can be an altar.
Where will you worship today?
Photo Credit: ©artemkovalev
