He went from place to place until he came . . . to the place between Bethel and Ai . . . where he had first built an altar.

— Genesis 13:3-4

In the 1990s I was involved in planting a new church in a suburb of Chicago. We had no church building of our own, so we had to be portable. As a result, we ended up worshiping in six different locations within five years. In that way we were something like Abraham, who took his worship with him as he moved around.

Several times in Genesis 12-13 we read that Abraham built an altar to the Lord—turning ordinary places into sacred spaces. This showed that wherever he went, Abraham could worship God. It also showed that God is totally different from the false gods of other nations, who believed their gods had power only in their area or over certain things. In fact, God is the one true God, the Lord of heaven and earth. God is every­where, and he rules over all things. Sadly, we do not read of Abraham worshiping God while he was in Egypt, but God `was there anyway, protecting him and Sarai (Genesis 12:10-20).

Having come back from Egypt, Abraham made worship a priority. Through worship his faith was strengthened and his vision expanded.

Worship can have the same ­effect on us. And instead of only having a brief time of worship in a church on Sunday, we can take our worship with us every day, giving God glory wherever we go and in everything we do.

Lord God, may we praise you always. May your glory be reflected in all we say and do. Keep us faith­ful in worshiping you, Lord. Amen.