Wake up late, fix pot of coffee, go pray, get coffee, read bible, take a shower, get dressed, shave – no, there’s no more time, and I could probably go one more day anyway, eat bran flakes, brush my teeth, grab the rest of the coffee, grab Bible, journal and book (just in case there’s more time later) and head out the door to drop the kids off by 8:10 am so I can be at work by 8:25, my truck time, not the time clock time, because it’s usually 3 minutes fast. “Whew,” made it. So far this hasn’t been a bad day, the only thing that would’ve made it a little better would have been waking up earlier so I could pray and read the bible longer. Scarcely would I think anything to be missing in this fine morning (this type of morning which happens A LOT).
For anyone who has seen the movie “One Night with the King,” you would probably be interested in the book “Finding Favor with the King” by Tommy Tenney, also author of the “God Chasers” series which I heard was great, though not necessarily my style. Like the movie, this book is based on the biblical scripture of Esther, a story of a young Jewish girl who was taken and forced into a beauty pageant of sorts for the hand of King Xerxes of Babylon (and Queen of his kingdom). She took a bad situation that she wasn’t able to escape and made the best of it, winning Xerxes heart and eventually becoming the salvation of the Jewish race. Tommy breaks this story down into detailed principles and gives lessons which ultimately teach us how we should worship the King of Kings as Esther worshiped her would be husband and King.
I never knew there were so many lessons in the book of Esther. Though many very good principles, which could be preconceived opinions of the author rather than biblical fact, the basic premise is that we must worship the King for who He is. The King of Kings is looking for those who love HIM; rather than His royalty, His riches and His blessing.
I think so many times we get so busy that we do things just because we’ve always done them. Even “church stuff” like reading our bibles, attending Sunday worship services, praying, singing with raised hands are often for us to satisfy OUR spiritual taste buds for the week, check off our church checklist and move on to whatever is next on the agenda. Very seldom do we consider that God has this crazy idea that church is for HIM. We are for HIM. Mission work is for HIM. Reading our bibles is for HIM. It is He who is glorified when we start to do things just because we love Him.
In the Bible we see the church as Christ’s bride. I love my bride. She is my wife, my love, my beloved. I love to do things for her just because of that love I have for her. I also love when she does things for me just because too. In fact, I love her most when she honors me with her actions, it could be anything (cleaning my truck, rubbing my back, saving her money to buy the best grill she could find, etc) I would give her the world when she seemingly does nothing except for the sheer fact that she loves me. So too should we do just because we love our Lord. On the other hand, if my wife comes in and showers me with kisses every time she sees me just to grab some money from my wallet so she can go blow it on whatever (kind of like we do when we do our daily bible reading and pray just so we can hopefully cash in on His blessings) I would be deeply disappointed, and probably even feel a bit used. Now I’m sure my wife would never admit to using me in this way (would we admit it to God?), but facts are still facts, especially if it happens on a consistent basis.
How many times do we run to God when we get ourselves into trouble or need some kind of boost in confidence? When was the last time we loved God just because He is who He is? He is the church’s husband, maybe the church should start acting like a good wife instead of an adulteress who only comes home when she wants something. Maybe we should give God something of our time like devotions FOR Him, instead of doing our devotions for getting FROM Him? Think about it.
0 Responses to “Worship – Who Has the Time?”