How did God fit in to your day today?
Depending on when, during the day, you read this, God may have already been in it or you haven't thought about that yet. That can be a challenge for us as we start to get ready for the day and plan various tasks. Also, as we look over our calendar and seek to accomplish various things we may become so wrapped up in our schedule that we forget about where God fits in to that schedule.
In those times it is easy to forget about not only including God but the concept of worshiping God seems very foreign. Sunday, we looked at how our life is a life of worship. Worship doesn't begin and end but is continual. Our everyday, menial-thing-life should be including worship to our God. Here are some applications to choose from to use this week...
- Changing Our View ~ Sometimes our view of worship may be limited to what we've always known. We accompany worship with a time of attending a service at a church building, including all the traditional elements (singing, praying, Lord's Supper, preaching, etc.). But what if we went out of that box and looked at worship as something more? What if it included everything we did...from the menial to the grand? Think of the continual connection you'd have with God!
- Why 'All the Time'? ~ Our connection to Him should be 'all the time.' He longs for us to connect to Him and in everything we should be desiring to have that connection. My 2 year old daughter sometimes says "Dad, talk to me!" when she wants my attention (usually she is interrupting a conversation between my wife and I). It is kind of funny the way she is wanting to have our attention. It leads me to think that God might be saying "Jarrod, talk to me" as I go throughout my day. Additionally, He wants to be honored for giving us what we've been given...our job, our food, our house, our health, etc. Worship Him all the time!
- Living the Life ~ It is very rewarding to see worship in a new light. To see Him as the giver of blessings and wanting to appreciate Him for those blessing is the ideal situation to be in. Even in the times that may not "be from Him" but we don't know, I like to still appreciate Him and thank Him. It may be just something like finding my keys, I still say "thanks." Live the life of worship and constant connection to Him!
Worship can have various elements incorporated in it to draw us closer to Him. May we not limit ourselves when it comes to that connection, so we will not be isolated to just one area which we lean on to get us there.
Look to have a life of worship!
Now it's your turn...what surprises you the most or piques your attention the most about having worship being beyond formal gatherings?
Most people come on Sunday morning to a religious facility to what has been deemed as the "worship service". You will come expecting what is normally done: announcements, a few songs, a few prayers, communion, and a message. However, what would happen if any or most of those things were absent? Would you have "worshiped"? Do you feel you must include all the normal things to indicate that you actually did "worship" while you were at a "worship service"?
A few years ago, Matt Redman wrote a song called the "Heart of Worship". It came after he, a worship leader, decided to strip down the worship time to not include any songs. Out of that a song came and here are some of the words from the song...
When the music fades, all is stripped away, and I simply come
Longing just to bring something that’s of worth that will bless your heart…
I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about You, Jesus
What would happen or how would you react if we did not have any songs the whole morning? Would we have "worshiped" together? Or is singing so much of our service that we would feel as if we didn't connect with God if we didn't sing one song? I think we tend to forget that song is not needed to worship (aka "kiss toward the hand", Greek proskuneo). It is our heart that is needed to come close to God. To humble ourself to try to connect/commune with Him. If your heart is not in it, then it is far from God.
Some may know that worship is also a part of our daily lives, which is where we get the word "service" (Greek latreuo). This is a lifestyle, not a certain act of worship (see Romans 12:1-2). This is not about song, nor is thought about in a "church" setting.
So, are you able to still come to Him even if the music was stripped way? After all, it isn't about what songs are or are not picked, but about glorifying and lifting up the name of our Savior. That is what worship is all about - honoring the Godhead, appreciating them, communing with them. Allow yourself to set aside the songs and put your heart toward God, prostrating yourself (even figuratively) toward Him.
Let's not complicate worship and simplify it by seeing what it is really all about, which is not us. "It's all about you, Jesus!"
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