As I read the account of Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well I am drawn to Jesus. I've always liked this incident in His life. I like that He reached out to a person who was looked down on by society. I like that, although He knew her sins, He didn't put her down. He showed her truth.
One section of the passage in particular catches my attention, John 4:23-24, and it's there I'd like to focus today:
"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."
My first thought is - I want to be the kind of person the Father is looking for! So I look to see how they are described: "simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship". OK....so is worship when we sing in church or at home? What's worship really about?
Webster's defines Worship this way:
1 chiefly British : a person of importance -- used as a title for various officials (as magistrates and some mayors)
2 : reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power; also : an act of expressing such reverence
3 : a form of religious practice with its creed and ritual
4 : extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem <worship of the dollar>
I like the 4th definition - extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to. I think God wants that. I want to be able to be like that toward God. But sometimes my world becomes, without conscious thought, all about me. Pleasing myself becomes the center of my focus naturally. Unless I consciously choose for it to be different - my focus naturally gravitates to me. And even when I try to put patterns into my life of reading God's word and thinking on Him; I still often, after walking away from those experiences, gravitate back to the me-ness way of life. But the encouragement of Ephesians 2:8-9 comes to my mind:
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
That very faith that made my salvation possible wasn't from myself - it was God's gift to me. We are instructed in Colossians 2: 6-7:
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
So I'm to live my daily life in that same way as I first received my salvation - by God's grace. Perhaps that same grace enable me to worship Him! Perhaps even as He gave me the faith to believe in Him, He gives me the ability to do that which is against my nature, to put Him above myself. To passionately adore and revere Him.
Oh Father, I thank You that You don't tire of me! I thank You that You want my good and continually supply my needs; be it faith to believe in You or the ability to live the life You've given me this day. Again my Lord, I throw myself on Your mercy and look to You for grace. Please enable me to even love You as I need to.
When I look for examples of worship in the bible the first one that comes to my mind is
1 Samuel 15:2-23; that account of when God told Saul to go attack the Amalekites (the oppressors of the Jews at that time) and totally destroy them. Saul and his men went and mostly did as told; they did keep some livestock. Then God spoke to the prophet Samuel and said that He was upset because Saul hadn't obeyed him and Samuel went and talked to Saul. Saul said that they'd obeyed God and that it was OK that they'd decided to keep the livestock because they were going to worship God by sacrificing some of them to God. Samuel's reply to Saul is the famous one:
22 But Samuel replied:
"Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
he has rejected you as king."
I gain insight from the way it's translated in The Message version:
22-23 Then Samuel said,
Do you think all God wants are sacrifices—
empty rituals just for show?
He wants you to listen to him!
Plain listening is the thing,
not staging a lavish religious production.
Not doing what God tells you
is far worse than fooling around in the occult.
Getting self-important around God
is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors.
Because you said No to God's command,
he says No to your kingship.
I think it's safe to say that worship is linked to obedience. I've already decided the only way to be able to do any of this is by the same gifting of God that He had to extend when He gave me the faith to come into initial relationship with Him. It's also interesting that Samuel points out the dangers of getting self important around God. Reminds me of Matthew 5:3 where it talks about you're blessed when you're at the end of your rope because there can be less of you and more of God. Hummm.....interesting out these same themes are repeated: God wants me (no, He doesn't want me to be like any other wonderful Christian - He just wants me to be myself. Even if I don't really know who that is yet), God wants me to realize I have NOTHING without Him, He wants my heart devotion to Him, He wants my life to follow my heart.
Oh Father, may today be Your day. In today may I be myself and may my life be worship to You.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment