So Far Behind

Today I have just one question.  And I don’t have the answer, at least not yet.  We know that we were made to worship, created by God to ultimately praise Him forever without ceasing.  And so is creation.  The starry hosts (as Louie writes) --  “day after day they echo back to God and shout at the top of their lungs to anyone else who’s paying attention that He is huge.  All-powerful.  Glorious.  Limitless.”  And as I read that I realized that I need to do that too.

So here’s the question…why am I not worshipping with all my life and with all my heart?  Of course I know I will eventually in Heaven, but why am I so far behind now?  Anyone know the answer?

I like what Giglio writes later in chapter 3.  It addresses the problem behind my burning question:

“Don’t waste your worship on some little god, squandering your birthright on idols made only the human imagination.  Guard your worship…and carefully evaluate all potential takers…Enjoying the things that God has made is not a sin, but when we elevate any of these to the highest place in our hearts, we’ve gone too far and cheated both God and ourselves.”

One last quote to ponder:

“Simply put: We become what we worship.  If you don’t like who you’re becoming, take a quick inventory of the things on the throne of your heart.  If you want to become more and more like Jesus, keep your worship focused squarely on Him.”

-Rich

He's seeking you

"He's seeking you so you can know just how amazing He is.
He's seeking you so you can know what you're created to do.
He's seeking you so you can find Him and value Him with all your heart.
He's seeking you because He's God...
     and He knows you can't live without Him.


That, my friend, explains a ton of stuff for us. 


For one, it explains why you worship and why you're good at it...and it explains why Jesus willingly came.  He came to connect us to God and awaken us to the possibility of centering our worship on who and what matters most...forever."


- Louie Giglio


posted by Rich

Hello mister knowledge, how do you do?

What is the purpose of life?  Don’t we all have to ask that question at some point.  And the reason we’re asking is because everything that has led us to that point simply isn’t good enough; it cannot explain the reason for our existence.

I’m going to sound like a know-it-all, but here’s the answer in one word:  WORSHIP.  And I think that’s why Louie wrote the book “The Air I Breathe,” so we could get it.  And that one word packs a big punch -- it can be endlessly explained.   And the fulfillment of this one-word answer won’t happen on this earth, it happens only when we’re in heaven face to face with the living God!

The one alternative way to understand the complete answer is in hell for those who do not know God.  They may be atheists or misguided deists in this life, but they won’t be after they die.  They’ll get it too and they’ll realize that they missed it.

I want to get it.  I want to feel it.  It’s like I used to feel it years ago when I was hungry, searching for something more.  We can’t usually identify the longing as worship, but we know our passions were made to give worth to something greater.  But without knowledge, that’s all we have is feelings.

Which is why knowledge is so important!  When we first learn more about God and begin to put a face to our worship, it’s the most amazing thing.  It’s like our emotionally longing heart says to our enlightened mind, “hello mister knowledge, how do you do,” and we begin to focus our feelings on the truth of a God who loves us so much that he sent his son Jesus to restore our broken relationship with Him.

And now, years later I get it.  I get the knowledge anyway, but now the feelings grow dim at times.  Sometimes it’s just like coals burning and God needs to stoke my fire so I can get more excited about Him.  A life of worship is constantly balancing mind and heart.

Yet one certain feeling remains:  I long for that day when I will see God fully and my worship will be complete.

- Rich

Living a God Life

Sometimes life doesn't seem fair. You get sick, you break your arm, the kids puke on the floor, or the dog thinks you look a lot like a fire hydrant. It just doesn't seem that there is any way that you can worhsip God through the mess of life.

Sometimes we feel close to God and sometimes we feel far from God, but our faith in God doesn't depend on how we feel, it is based on the truths found in His love letters to us, The Bible. He helps us in our down times and is a constant encouragement to us even when things are going well.

In our reading this week we learned about the statue to "TO AN UNKNOWN GOD", in Athans. Sometimes we treat our relationship with Jesus as if He was the statue "UNKNOWN". Worshiping our jobs, our family, our cars, houses, pets, our stuffed animals..etc. Take time, every day to talk to Jesus and desire His Word. Life is busy, it is also short, take time to live a God Life.

Billy G

Walk This Way..

Some may think that I am a man of few words and some of you are now picking yourselves off the floor from laughing....the rest are just deers in the headlights, but one thing is for sure I am a blog novice, so here goes:

What stood out to me in this weeks reading is that we are ALL created, by God, to worship. With the trip to MJ's concert and seeing the lauding, adoration, and yes worship that is seen of the faces of those who were in attendance. They are not aware that they are worshiping but they were, none the less, Worshiping him. In the absence of God to worship we will, by our nature, find something, or someone, to worship, money, sports teams, movie stars, music stars, or Sponge Bob Square Pants.

As we go about our day let us always be mindful about who, or what, we are to be worshiping. When we have decisions to make, let us call on the one who made us. When we decide paper or plastic, let it be done to the glory of God, not the glory of Al Gore. Let us not worship the created things, but the Creator.

I am not a good, do with out kind of guy, but may be the chief of sinners when it comes to wanting "things". I believe that God has brought me into this season of my life to show me how much can be done without having things.

Lord may I learn this or any other lesson that You have for me, so I do not have to journey this way again.... Amen!!

Billy G

Reading In The Waiting Room

As I reread the words of chapter one in “The Air I Breathe,” I can’t help but think back to the first time I opened this book.  It was four months ago and I was reading in the hospital waiting room while my 3-year old daughter was getting her tonsils out.  I was there with my wife, who at the time was very pregnant with our third child.  The gift of life is so precious.

It makes me wonder why God created humans in the first place.  After all, He existed before us and is complete without us.  Why create us at all?  The best answer we have is that He wanted to share his love with creation.

And He has given us the same heart.  We are, after all, created in His image.  Just like our heavenly Father delights in us, so can I, in my own little way, take pleasure in parenting three beautiful children.

The life He breathes into us is an amazing thing.

- Rich

What is worship?

How do we define worship? Is it simply playing songs we all know and love? Is it simply meeting on Sundays and raising our hands and then bowing our heads to pray? Of course, all of these are integral parts of worship, yet worship in and of itself is more than just Sunday morning meetings, it is a lifestyle. We have been called to worship, which means that we have been called to make a new commitment to Christ every day and to strive to shine His light through the darkness of this dying world.

Sean Hook

Why Define Worship

This is a repost.  It originally came from Bob Kauflin at http://www.worshipsource.com/articles/why-define-worship-worship-defined.


WHY DEFINE WORSHIP?

Why spend time defining worship? Is it really that big a deal? Isn’t it more important that we simply do it?

It’s hard for us to know whether or not we’re doing something if we’re not sure what that "something" is. If I define "eating" as simply looking at food, you wouldn’t enjoy coming over to my house to "eat." If "breathing" is something I only do when I get with a group of people on Sunday mornings, then how do I describe what I do the rest of the time?

I heard theologian David Peterson say that defining words is important because not only do we use words, but words use us. That’s true, even if we’re unaware of it. Once we assign meaning to a word, it both reflects and shapes our world view. That’s why conversations about evangelicalism, the emerging church, or even Christianity can be confusing. We have to agree on what those words actually MEAN.

"Worship" is another one of those words. When someone refers to worship, they can be talking about any number of things: a time of singing, a meeting, a style of music, a certain type of religious liturgy, a mystical experience, something in contrast to "praise," or a type of Christian band. Do any of these comments sound familiar?

"By the third song, I was really worshipping." [Who or what were you worshipping before the third song?]

"Worship gets me to the place where I don’t have to think about anything." [Worshipping God actually requires thinking very clearly about the Word, works, and worthiness of God.]

"Will there be worship at the meeting?" [Definitely. The question is of who or what.]

"With only 20 minutes, we really didn’t have time to worship." [As though we "warm up" to worship God, rather than seek to honor him with our every thought and action.]

"Fred is doing the worship this morning." [Hopefully, everyone else will join in.]
"I really love your worship." [This is a comment I sometimes get after leading God’s praise in song. I usually respond by saying, "I hope you worshipped too!"]

"Susie’s a real worshipper!" [This probably means that Susie is physically expressive when she sings songs of praise to God. Whether that means she’s a worshipper of God or not requires a little more information.]

Please don’t misunderstand these comments. I’m not encouraging anyone to become the "word police." There are few things more obnoxious than someone who misses your main point because they’re adjusting your use of a certain word (and my friends have told me more than once I’m that obnoxious person). However, thinking and speaking of worship more broadly and biblically will both clarify some of our discussions and, more importantly, contribute to consistently passionate and God-honoring actions in all of life.

written by Bob Kauflin / posted by Rich