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From
the April, 2002 edition of The Doulos monthly
newsletter
by
Tom Reed
Let's
Talk Worship!
What is your "worship quotient"? You may think of this as an odd
question. I don't mean this is something we can calculate. We can, however,
evaluate our individual worship process. It is a question we must ask ourselves
from time to time.
What
is our mindset as we come to our Father to worship Him? Do we bow at His feet,
putting all we can into worshipping Him, or do we sit back and see what we can
get out of the church service? As it says in the Bible, "Love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength." (Deuteronomy
6:5). We need to have this attitude always, be it in church or alone in our
quiet time. Our time of worship should completely focus on God, our heavenly
Father.
Often,
when people are asked why they left a church, their answer, sad to say, is
"I am not getting anything out of the service." I think the lyrics of
Michael W. Smith's song clearly illustrate how we've gotten off track in our
worship. It goes:
I'm
coming back to the heart of worship.
And it's all about You. It's all about You, Jesus.
I'm sorry, Lord, for the things I've made it.
When it's all about You. It's all about you, Jesus.
It's
all about Him. It's not what we get out of worshipping Him, but what we give to
Him in worship. When we focus on ourselves instead of Him, our perspective is
wrong -- it's reversed.
If
we worship the Lord as our Father, and we desire time with Him like a young
child desires time with his earthly father, only then can we begin to
understand that we need Him to direct our lives. For this reason alone, we
should give Him our praise and thanks for sending His only Son to be our
Savior.
I
often wonder if any of us truly understand the ultimate sacrifice made when He
sent Jesus to cleanse us from our sins. Without this, there would be no hope
for eternal life!
As
children of God, we know that we come to worship Him with "unclean
lips" (Isaiah
6:5). Jesus was sent to cleanse us with His blood shed on the cross.
Knowing this, we need to go to His throne in an attitude of sheer reverence and
thanksgiving. Let's "sell out" to the worship process when
worshipping our King! He deserves it!
I
challenge each of us to ask ourselves: What is my worship quotient? Is my
worship all about Him?
In
Christ,
Tom Reed
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