Everyday Worship
I'm still chewing on John Piper's series on worship he has going on over at Desiring God. In particular, I'm thinking about what worship should look like to me on a practial, everyday level. We spend a lot of thought and energy thinking about corporate worship. But I'm wondering if a disproportionate emphasis on the "gathering" aspect causes individual worship to suffer.
What I mean is this: when we put undue emphasis on the forms of corporate worship, we get into the mindset that worship is like a recipe. Mix prayer + scripture reading + singing + testimony and voila! You have worship. And we spend so much effort trying to get the recipe just right, because we are thinking (wrongly) that this will lead to better worship. Then there is a real temptation to carry this flawed thinking over to how I worship God daily. To try to find just the right combination of bible reading + prayer + memorization + quiet time so that I am maximizing my worship potential. But it's easy to do all those things and not have a heart that truly prizes and cherises God. It's easy for spiritual "to-do" lists to replace real love and relationship with Him.
I remember hearing a story (whether true or fictional I do not know) about a bachelor who hired a maid to help out around the house. He gave her a list of chores that he needed done: wash dishes, dust, do laundry, etc. And she came to work and did her chores and got her paycheck. Over time, a romance began to develop between the two and eventually they became husband and wife. Do you think the guy still kept the list of chores around? I'm thinking no. But of course the wife didn't need it because she still did the same things (and more) out of love for her husband. Do you think she still expected a paycheck? Of course not. And the same is true of our relationship to God. It is foolish to try to show our Creator love by worshiping with a "to-do list" mentality. We might as well give him an invoice of what He owes us at the same time. He wants real, heartfelt, authentic treasuring of who He is and what He has done.
Romans 7:6 -- "But now we have been released from the law, for we died with Christ, and we are no longer captive to its power. Now we can really serve God, not in the old way by obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way, by the Spirit." (NLT)
What I mean is this: when we put undue emphasis on the forms of corporate worship, we get into the mindset that worship is like a recipe. Mix prayer + scripture reading + singing + testimony and voila! You have worship. And we spend so much effort trying to get the recipe just right, because we are thinking (wrongly) that this will lead to better worship. Then there is a real temptation to carry this flawed thinking over to how I worship God daily. To try to find just the right combination of bible reading + prayer + memorization + quiet time so that I am maximizing my worship potential. But it's easy to do all those things and not have a heart that truly prizes and cherises God. It's easy for spiritual "to-do" lists to replace real love and relationship with Him.
I remember hearing a story (whether true or fictional I do not know) about a bachelor who hired a maid to help out around the house. He gave her a list of chores that he needed done: wash dishes, dust, do laundry, etc. And she came to work and did her chores and got her paycheck. Over time, a romance began to develop between the two and eventually they became husband and wife. Do you think the guy still kept the list of chores around? I'm thinking no. But of course the wife didn't need it because she still did the same things (and more) out of love for her husband. Do you think she still expected a paycheck? Of course not. And the same is true of our relationship to God. It is foolish to try to show our Creator love by worshiping with a "to-do list" mentality. We might as well give him an invoice of what He owes us at the same time. He wants real, heartfelt, authentic treasuring of who He is and what He has done.
Romans 7:6 -- "But now we have been released from the law, for we died with Christ, and we are no longer captive to its power. Now we can really serve God, not in the old way by obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way, by the Spirit." (NLT)
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posted by Alan at 7:59 AM
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