If you have served, or are serving, in the military you are very familiar with the command “as you were”. I’ve only seen it in the movies when soldiers stopped what they were doing to salute their commander as they entered the room. Soldiers snapped to and stayed that way until they’re given permission to return to what they were doing previously. As you were.

I began thinking about that one day and the idea of honoring your superior, stopping what you’re doing to show respect and honor to the one who is leading you. It made me think about God and how we worship and honor Him when we’re aware of His presence. When we enter a church service or prayer gathering and stop everything else we’re doing to posture our heart toward our Savior. It is beautiful that we serve a living God that responds to hearts that honor Him.

It’s also worth noting that God never tells us “as you were”. Once we connect with Jesus, we are never the same. Life is not the same. And He would never want us to return to where we were before we met Him! 2 Corinthians 5:17 (CEV) tells us, “Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new.”

It is wholly appropriate for us to pause and humbly honor our Lord, to give attention to His presence, and offer our praise and worship without holding anything back. What we joyfully discover as we return to our work, and to life as we’re living it, that nothing will be the same after our encounter with the King! Thanks to Jesus everything is NEW!