Worship

Have you ever been stopped to think 'what is worship?' I have. And I've found it difficult to define because in this day and age, the word "worship" is so often associated with one particular act of worship. The worship act of singing praises to God has, in many cases, come to define worship in today's church culture. While the worship act of singing (contemporary, hymns, etc). certainly brings glory to God, it does not encompass the full magnitude of worship.

According to the dictionary, worship is defined as:

(n). reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power; 

also: an act of expressing such reverence.

Worship is both a reverence and any action that expresses this reverence. I like to think that worship is a 'state of heart'. When the heart of a person is reverent before the Creator, they cannot help but worship Him. In a similar manner, the creatures mentioned in Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 can do nothing but worship God when they are in His awesome presence. I think that the 'heart of worship' looks like a person consumed by their love and reverence for God. All they want to talk about is God, and He makes His way into every conversation (sports, movies, philosophy, science, history, etc). Something else to consider is what Paul says of worship in Romans 12:

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1-2 ESV)

Two quick things:
1) not once does he mention the worship act of singing praises to God and
2) in the context, being a 'living sacrifice' is related to not conforming to this world.
In a little more detail, our spiritual worship is related to being a 'living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.' I take this to mean set apart for God alone. This makes sense in that the next verse tells us to not conform to the world (which is certainly not set apart for God). Paul also states that we are transformed, so that we 'may discern what the will of God is,' by the the renewing of our minds. Sounds like Discipline again, huh? I've heard many things on the renewal of the mind, but I think it boils down to reading the Word of God, Praying, and performing spiritual disciplines. This prepares the mind to be aligned with the heart for the worship of God. If God is central to our mind and our heart, how could we do anything but worship Him?

The other day, a friend said to me: "we don't worship God because of what He's done for us (that falls more into giving thanks) nor because we have the ability to worship. Rather, we worship God because He is so glorious and holy and awesome that He is worthy of glory and honor and praise and worship forever and ever." It's so simple, yet we so often miss this truth: "Give God the Glory because He deserves it!"

With that, here's the motivational poster I made up for worship, featuring the verse Revelation 4:11:

Discipline

As the school year gets rolling, I'm finding myself in need of a simple, yet challenging concept: Discipline. There's so much in this word, but I'll start with what Webster's says:

(n.) "Training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character."

This is one of several definitions, but I think it's interesting that discipline is a training. It does not happen over night. And it's not just for the physical, it also applies to the mind and the "moral character." There's so many areas of my life where I know discipline would be helpful. I'm fairly good at physical discipline (i.e. wake up/go to sleep/workout/good physical form/etc), and I'm getting better and disciplining my time management. But, discipline in relationships with people is a different matter. You can't just do X amount of push ups to get stronger here. You need to pray and seek God's help big time. Disciplining oneself in this area is difficult. 

It's hard to spend time with someone you don't really want to be around, but Jesus tells us to love. He even goes so far as to command us to love our enemies! On the flip side, it is a real challenge to limit your time with people you care about. Seeking God for balance in this area is key. Speaking of which, another area of Discipline that I have found challenging is spending time with God. This should be easy, right? Wrong. Jesus tells us that it will be hard. The world, the devil, and our own sin nature are going to do everything they can to prevent us from praying, reading Scripture, evangelizing, praising, etc. We must RENEW our minds, as Romans 12 tells us, so that we can be disciplined unto Godliness.

So, my prayer for this week is DISCIPLINE: Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. (Mark 12:30 - Love the LORD your GOD with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength) 

That said, I love the following quote by President Truman, so I put it on a motivational poster -  go figure. Enjoy!