What Every Person Should Know About Worship

I think some of us might be missing a central understanding of the influence worship plays in our lives.

Worship is something we all do every day and yet we can be completely unaware of what it nurtures in us. We actually worship more often than we think and are influenced by it more often than we can imagine.

Let’s begin with a basic definition of what worship is: ascribing worth to something or someone as being worthy of our highest respect, value, love, adoration, and praise.

It can also mean celebrating the worth of something or someone we idolize blindly and or excessively.

One thing is for sure: Whether we worship God, or something or someone else, every human being is worshiping.

We Need A More Holistic Understanding Of Worship.

In a christian culture, when we hear the word, “worship,” many assume it to mean it’s time to sing in church. While singing in church is a great way to worship God, it’s not entirely what it means to worship. If that’s our holistic understanding of worship, we are missing out on so much. Worship is actually much broader, grander, bigger, and more mysterious than just singing to God Sunday in church.

The influence of what or who we worship is profoundly energizing the trajectory of who we are becoming every day—whether we acknowledge it as doing so or not. And spirituality is about the deepest values and meanings by which we all live, and nothing helps shape and form that spirituality more than what we worship.

The Golden Rules At The Heart Of Spirituality.

There are “two golden rules at the heart of spirituality,” as N.T. Wright puts it. I think these are what every person should know about worship and it’s fundamental influence in our lives. I’ll leave you with these to ponder and consider…

You become like what you worship. “When you gaze in awe, admiration, and wonder at something or someone, you begin to take on something of the character of the object of your worship. Those who worship money become, eventually, human calculating machines. Those who worship sex become obsessed with their own attractiveness or prowess. Those who worship power become more and more ruthless.”

Worship makes you more truly human. “When you gaze in love and gratitude at the God in whose image you were made, you do indeed grow. You discover more of what it means to be fully alive. Conversely, when you give that same total worship to anyone else, you shrink as a human being.”

Shine Through Me

Dear Lord:

Help me to spread your fragrance wherever I go. Flood my soul with your SPIRIT and LIFE.

SHINE through me, and be SO in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel your presence.

Stay with me, then I shall begin to shine as you do; so to shine as to be a light to others.

The light, O Lord, will be ALL from you: NONE of it will be mine; it will be YOU shining on others through me.

Let me thus praise you in the way you love best, by shining on those around me.

Let me preach you without preaching, not by words but by my example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to you. Amen.

~ John Henry Newman (One of Mother Teresa’s favorite prayers.)

Did You Marry The “Right” Person?

I have done a lot of premarital with couples and weddings in the last few weeks, and it has got me thinking…

How do some couples think a person can be so “right” in one moment, only then to later think they are so “wrong?”

Do people really change that much, or conceal so well their true selves early on, eventually causing the other mate to question “who” or “why” they married?

Yes, perhaps so, but I don’t think it is as often as we too quickly accept. It might even only be true for a minority of couples.

Of course, there are exceptions, but only if you’ve recently discovered you married a serial killer or rapist, thief or criminal, abusive or cheating spouse, child molester and so on…you get the point.

But for many people who might be asking the “right” person question, it’s most likely not from any kind of extreme revelation like I’ve mentioned above. For a good majority, the question: did I marry the “right” person? may in fact, not even be the right or most helpful question to be asking after you’re married anyhow.

Perhaps we should ask this first: Is it possible the questioning may have more to do with the realization you both have somehow drifted apart, rather than about your mate being the “right” person?

I suspect and think this is true for many married couples. Secondly, if you are already married, the “right” question might actually now be more about you than it is about your spouse.

The real issue, first and foremost, may not be whether you married the right person; but rather ARE YOU BEING the right person? Just think, what would marriages, homes, and families be like if every married person took that seriously.

“It’s far more important to be the right kind of person than it is to marry the right person. In short, whether you married the right or wrong person is primarily up to you.” –Zig Ziglar

Have you honestly considered that how you’re treating your spouse can make all the difference? It could all come down to you and how committed you are to being the right kind of person.

For some, the strength of commitment in a marriage varies; it’s only as strong and deep as what they feel emotionally or physically toward the other at a given moment; ‘I felt you were the “right” person yesterday, but today I feel differently.’

Maybe a better way to understand commitment would be to compare it to bungee jumping. When you take that step off the platform, you are committed to follow through. The real reward of exhilaration is in the follow through after the jump.

Here’s an even better question to ask: Is commitment a direction to be pursued as long as it works, or is it a direction to be pursued until it works?

Your spouse being the “right” person might have everything to do with you being the “right” person—the person who follows through with what and with whom they committed to.

A Symphony Of God Is Love

And The Symphony Begins…For God is Love.

I can think of no greater sound or more soothing rhythm that moves me.

Rhythm is the invisible quality that holds a song together much like God holds the world together by being love.

I believe many of us are close to God every day and may not even be fully aware of it.

Because God IS Love, wherever and whenever you may experience, express, share, give, or be given love, God is near.

May you experience the symphony of God is Love. It is the rhythm holding us and all that God created together.

And may we all find ourselves enjoying it more and more as it moves us nearer to God. It is the most inspiring beat and the greatest sound of all the ages.

The Symphony Builds…

The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.  ^{Psalm 145:8}

The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. Psalm 33:5

Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. ^{Psalm 36:5}

I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever; I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. ^{Psalm 89:1}

For Jesus said, [These] and whatever other commands there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself. For love is the fulfillment of the law.”  ^{Romans 13:9}

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ^{1Peter 4:7-8}

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another. If any one of you has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in you?

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.  ^{1 John 3:16}

And The Symphony Plays On and On and On…

Resolving Regret

What human being hasn’t experienced this emotion; wishing they said, did, or didn’t say or do, something?

It can emerge both out of our action and or inaction. But its insight always seems to be a day or even much too late.

As William O’Rourke said, “Regret is an odd emotion because it comes only upon reflection. Regret lacks immediacy, and so it’s power seldom influences events when it could do some good.”

But, can any good come from regret at all? I think so.

Regret Is Transitional.

It’s a first step toward something more helpful or hurtful. It can certainly move us either upward or downward. Toward a more intensified guilt or redeeming value. The two paths are distinctively clear.

Regret Leads Us To Two Types Of Sorrow.

One leads to life—Repentance. The other to some kind of death (in varying degrees) and the repeated beating of ourselves (emotionally)—Guilt.

“Yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” –2 Cor. 7:9-10

There seems to be a kind of sorrow that God intends for us that saves us from regret. And it’s a sorrow that points us in the direction of a better life, where we discover our need for God’s love, care, and direction.

We don’t need God to regret our mistakes; we can do that on our own. And that’s the problem with regret; it can make no amends for the wrongdoing and just leaves us only trusting in our own capacities to deal with it. Regret just keeps us focused on itself or ourselves.

Repentance Is A Gift.

It draws us back to God. It is simply a turning toward God in our regret. And, in doing so, we move out of regret and into a better way of living—the past redeemed for the good and a renewed joy to breathe deeply and enjoy the moment.

May you take life as it comes; allowing it to move you only nearer to God. And, may we all resolve the regrets; then can come the best of benedictions.

John 3:16 Remixed

“God’s care for humanity was so great that he sent his unique Son among us,

so that those who count on him might not lead a futile and failing existence,

but have the undying life of God Himself.”

The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard | Chapter One: Entering The Eternal Kind Of Life Now.

Made Perfect In Weakness

In a culture that seems to perpetuate the constant propping up of ourselves and hiding our weaknesses, I find this text to be both challenging and life giving…

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Now, to be clear, weakness isn’t something we should be striving for. It’s just something that we all have and we should be able to freely admit it.

The greatest weakness of all is the fear of appearing weak. That’s pride to always feel the need to appear strong.

There is a way to actually live stronger. It is counter-intuitive to our culture and prideful nature, and is an unassuming pathway to discovering a new kind of strength.

This strength emerges out of an awareness of our weakness and a growing dependence on something other than ourselves.

A Humble Heart Can Help Us More Than A Proud Mind.

We try to control this situation or that person, and they just won’t do what we want them to do. We spend all kinds of energy, and that situation still will not submit to our will. Our will is not being done on earth.

How many of us have had those moments when we say,  ”I’m tired of this Lord, I give up attempting to control it, help me!” And later we realize we were given both grace and strength along-the-way; and it was not our own strength…it came from somewhere else.

God is all powerful—not us! And when we are weak, we lean more on God…discovering His strength.

Whatever the weakness, let’s humble ourselves, and pray to discover the strength that comes with acknowledging our need of God’s grace in moments of weakness. It seems God thinks he’s strong enough…

“My grace is enough; it’s all you need…”

“My strength comes into its own in your weakness.” ~ 2 Corinthians 12

Lastly, and it’s important to finish here: when we truly experience God’s grace and strength in weakness, we’ll finally be humble enough for a more meaningful use of our natural strengths—and in more than just boosting our own pride to only appear strong.

And so we are made perfect in our weakness through humility.

“He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.” ~Psalm 25:9

Spiritual Growth: The Essential Nature of It

One’s whole life is an ongoing process of spiritual formation.

We don’t get to pick and choose when or where because it’s actually already happening all-the-time.

Every day, moment-by-moment…

We are ALWAYS becoming a certain kind of person.

Opening up to God more deeply or closing ourselves off. Growing emotionally or staying immature. Developing relationally or suffering the injury of under development.

Spiritual growth touches ALL of our life. There is no such thing as our “spiritual life” and then our “real life.” It is all integrated into ONE life—the one you live every day.

Adversity: The Outer Clothing Of Growth.

I find it difficult to accept [even though it’s too often true] that the deepest kind of growth happens in the most challenging and difficult spots of my life. And even though I know I’m growing in the middle of it, it never seems to be a satisfying consolation in real-time.

Ever pray this prayer: “Lord, is there any other path I can go rather than this one I’m currently on?” I know I have. And Jesus did too. But experience teaches that what we’d rather avoid, can indeed be something God uses to grow his purpose in and out of our life.

I often seem to think that some other place will be the ideal spot for me to grow more adequately. But rarely is it the place I’m presently at; I most often think it should happen somewhere else, or in some other way—mostly in greater comfort and on a smoother path.

Fully Embrace YOUR Life.

I’m realizing a seed only flourishes by staying in the ground in which it is sown. And, the SEED is US and the GROUND is OUR LIVES. We can’t replant ourselves into another life. We can only flourish in the life we’re planted in, because it’s the only one given to us.

We might do better to realize and trust that the “ground of our lives” [no matter what circumstantially is prevailing or where we find ourselves] is in fact the best place to discover everything that we need to flourish and grow.

Gripping Too Tightly To Your Life.

Spiritual growth implies a lessening of self-concern in conjunction with a deepening awareness of God’s presence at work in our lives. Often we are too preoccupied—thinking too much of or feeling overly sorry for ourselves—to notice the presence of the divine in the moment, at work, in our inner most being.

Lessening of self-concern? But why? So that we can engage more fully in our life—the life that God gives and created for us to live. When we are too full of ourselves, we fool ourselves into believing that we are the source of our own life. And, when we swim in the deep waters of self-pity for too long, we soon discover we’re drowning in a lack of gratitude to fully appreciate and enjoy our life.

Spiritual growth moves us in the direction of the best possible life for us. And we have a living, breathing picture of how God wants us to live. Jesus is a living portrait of the many ways in which we can live the best possible life.

Three Things From a Living Portrait Of Jesus.

Which seem to be foundational for spiritual and life development.

• Emptying our selves by giving up “equality with God.” Our sense of entitlement must die. Life has been given to us; it is a gift. We cannot be the source of life to ourselves, or be in control of everything, attempting to play God. But as we take on the very nature of a servant, serving others and their interest as well as your own, we’ll grow by getting smaller. Ascent by descent, humbling ourselves, this begins it all.

• Submitting to God’s will. In all growth we have to accept and bow our knee in trust of God’s path for us rather than making for ourselves our own. Embrace all of your life—the beautiful and the ugly—and trust that God is at work in the center of it all to bring about good. Even when there’s a misstep or a redirection on the path you currently know; trust in God, lean not only to your understanding, acknowledge God in all your ways, and know he’ll direct you.

• Overcoming evil with good. Regardless of how you’re treated, give back better than you receive. And, never become the evil that’s being done to you. Your health and maturity are not dependent upon someone else. You’re not a slave to someone else’s immaturity. Jesus was concerned with doing the right thing, no matter what was done to him. If we will identify with that kind of suffering, we will certainly grow much faster in spite of what is thrown at us and transcend the immaturity around us.

The opportunities to grow, mature, and be formed spiritually are present every day in things like conversations, relationships, emotions, circumstances, etc., the very real stuff that makes up our daily lives. Let’s embrace it all, allowing every part of our lives—and the example of Christ’s life—to develop, shape, and form us?

Instruments Of Peace

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.”

“O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.”

~ Prayer of  St. Francis~

May we all make this our living prayer. In our workplaces where there’s hatred, sow love. In any relationship where there’s injury, forgive. In every place you find despair, darkness, and sadness around you–offer hope, light, and joy!

Enduring Love

Last Thursday, Debbie and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary. It was April 7th, 1990, that we said to each other, “I choose you!” –narrowing our choice down from billions of others on the planet to one.

We essentially made a decision to join our lives together that day. I believe God did something deeply sacred in that moment of which only he can (the joining), but we also made a decision to open our hearts to each other saying: “No one else gets me in this specific, holy, sacred, emotional, and physical way.”

This is where enduring love begins. It begins with a choosing and a decision! But it grows as we decide and choose love again and again.

Love is a Decision. Actually, it’s a series of decisions. And it works for as long as we continue to choose it.

Love is working on one level because God’s love and grace is at work in our lives individually. And, as a result, we’ve grown more in patience, truth, love and forgiveness, etc. But it’s also because Debbie and I understand love as a decision and not exclusively as a feeling or emotion.

You can’t “fall out” of love (or not be in-love anymore) if your understanding of it is that of a decision. You can only decide to love or not to love.

We’ve chosen to love each other every day. On occasion, the choice to love was difficult to make in light of our emotions or feelings. But with each day we’d choose to love, we’d die a little more to ourselves and came alive more and more to each other.

The decision to love actually grows and nurtures a more profound, enduring, and ever expanding love; running deeper and much further than what fleeting emotions and feelings of love alone can sustain.

Want an enduring love? Then never choose anything other than deciding to love–it never fails!

Oh, and there’s a magnificent bonus that comes with the decision to love, it makes the joy of loving even sweeter and more satisfying!