RevWrites - May 17

Let’s try a little survey. What ideas come into your head when you think of worship? 

My guess is that for most of us ideas of ‘sacrifice, give up, be unselfish, miss out etc’ would come to mind. I think this comes from a secret suspicion that God doesn’t want us to enjoy life or even find pleasure in him. So we conclude worshipping God involve suppressing my dreams, my desires, my

passions. 

Another way you hear it, is in churches that are only against things - ‘we’re against homosexuals, we’re against Hillsong, we’re against the Greens, we’re against the media, we’re against...’. I want to ask them ‘are you actually for anything?’.

Don’t get me wrong we need to be firm and clear in standing for Jesus in our city. But is Jesus just about don’ts and nots? Where is the joy, the delight, the passion, even the happiness in worshipping God. You see it in Psalm 63. David knows God so he longs and thirsts for him. He even says

‘Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you’. See we’re created and wired up to worship God. So we find our deepest joy, greatest purpose, our most intense fulfilment in a life of worshipping God.

In September the Bible Society is running an ad campaign (TV, billboards etc) called ‘Jesus, all about life’ telling people that real full life is found in Jesus. Life is all about Jesus. Our friends, neighbours, workmates, family will see them. How can we, how can you share something (a thought, a story, an example, a question) of our joy and delight in Jesus? Start thinking and praying now about the people in your networks and what you could share. 

Do you see it? 

It’s not having passions, desires, dreams, hopes, that are wrong. It’s that we’re passionate about, desire, dream about, hope for the wrong things. We worry about our future and security. We accumulate stuff and chase prestige. We let guilt and shame rob us of joy. We do all this when Jesus already holds our security in his hands as forgiven children of God. We fool around with money, work, comfort, making our own little kingdom when infinite joy is offered to us in worshipping Jesus!

So has your worship of God become a small thing full of ‘nots’ and ‘don’ts’? Do you find yourself always against things?

What’s one thing you will do this week to express and live the joy of worshipping Jesus?

James