A Call to True Worship

This is something I wrote 2 years ago...




All across the Mall as far as the eye could see there were people ~ an unprecedented number of people. Some estimate well over a million. They came from all across the country at great personal sacrifice. Many left their jobs and families. They sacrificed their personal comfort. It was bitter cold...the temperatures barely made it to the 20s, but nobody noticed. They had been there for hours, some had even spent the night outside, just so they would be sure to get a spot. Nothing mattered because they were hoping to get a glimpse of the new President.

I watched the faces filled with anticipation, excitement, joy, hope and even tears. I thought about their personal sacrifice, their willingness to stand for hours in the freezing cold, with little sleep, little food, and few facilities. Nothing mattered because of the moment and who they were going to see. In that moment I realized that what I was seeing was a picture of worship and my heart broke because I knew that picture of worship was exactly what God (and only God) deserves from us.

Do we give Him that same level of sacrifice . . . sacrifice of our time, our resources, our comfort just to get a glimpse of Him. Are we willing to go to great lengths to get to our churches on Sunday or our Prayer Services? Whatever it takes...whatever the cost...letting nothing get in the way so that we can spend time with Him? Are we filled with anticipation, excitement, joy, and hope as we prepare to meet Him? And unlike those millions who stood in the cold to just get a glimpse of the new president, we are offered the privilege to not just get a glimpse of our Savior, we are offered the opportunity to spend time with Him, talk to Him, be with Him. What an honor and what a privilege!

My prayer is that in my life and in the lives of the Christians all across this nation, that we never forget this picture of worship. I pray that we have that same passion, priority, and willingness to sacrifice our time, comfort, and resources to be in the presence of our Savior. I pray that our hearts will be filled with that same excitement, anticipation, joy and hope as we prepare to meet with Him. 

He and He alone is worthy of that kind of worship!

***

"The heart of God loves a persevering worshipper who, though overwhelmed by many troubles, is overwhelmed even more by the beauty of God." ~ Matt Redman

"I am far more captured by this mystery: Almighty God would invite me to intimacy with Himself, and the Son of God would willingly dies on a cross to make that possible." ~ Matt Redman

"O God, you are my God. earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water." ~ King David in Psalm 63