Take a Minute -- Thursday, 5/6/10 -- PUTTING WORSHIP INTO PERSPECTIVE -- Deuteronomy 6:13-15; Psalm 95; John 4:23-24
J.R. & Bonnie Ricks
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PUTTING WORSHIP INTO PERSPECTIVE -- Deuteronomy 6:13-15; Psalm 95; John 4:23-24
Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. Deuteronomy 6:13-15 NIV
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." John 4:23-24 NIV
What does worship mean? What does it mean to you? We call our Sunday services "worship" services, but are they truly that? Let's examine this for a moment.
First, why do you go to church? Are you there to worship Jesus, and learn more about Him in order to have a more intimate, close relationship with Him? Are you there to fellowship with other believers in order to be able to be a functioning and glorifying part of the body of Christ? If so, you’re right on track. But if you’re there because you think that’s what you’re supposed to do in order to be a “good Christian”… if you’re there because that’s what you’ve been doing every Sunday for your entire life… if you’re there to make “brownie points” with God… if you’re there to be entertained… if you’re there to “network” and make “brownie points” within your community… if you’re there for any or all of these reasons, then you might as well stay at home, because you’ve totally missed the point.
Remember when you first fell in love with someone? Without realizing the transformation, you went from a wide "focus" in your life, to a single "focus".... When you weren't with your love, you were thinking about him or her. Your thoughts were filled with instant replays of your times together, and with imaginings about what the future held. You replayed conversations in your head, examining them, studying them, meditating on them. You were hungry to know every single iota of information about that person, filled with wonder at each new piece of information. If a bond was formed, and if the bond that formed was genuine love, your focus soon became totally unselfish - centering on what you could do to make your loved one's life better. If it wasn’t genuine love, then your focus was totally selfish, seeking only what YOU could gain from the relationship.
Now take the above situation and apply it to your life as a born again believer and your relationship with Jesus. Does our Lord receive the devotion and unselfish attitude from you that a true love interest would? Do you truly worship our Lord in the way He deserves to be worshipped? Think about it…
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