Memorial Day is our first Summer holiday here in the United States, and in it we remember the soldiers of the United States who have died in military action to defend the freedoms we enjoy here. Flowers adorn the cemetaries of such, and I'm sure from whatever country any reader may be from and a citizen of, you too would want to remember and honor your nation's men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
As a Christian whose identity is found as one belonging to Jesus and part of the one holy nation, the church, scattered all over the world, I too would like to remember those Christians who likewise have made the ultimate sacrifice. For Jesus and the gospel, and for the kingdom of God in Jesus many have sacrificed their very lives as martyrs for the faith and their fidelity to it. We need to remember such and pray for those who continue to suffer today.
In gratitude to God for his mercies to us in Jesus, we're to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to him, which is true worship. A living sacrifice. Meaning that each day our lives should be at God's disposal, given over to him gladly so that his will can be realized in and through them. For some of us in the world, this may mean severe persecution and death. To follow Jesus requires that we not shrink back from whatever that may involve. That we look to God and depend on the Spirit to help us in whatever we face.
What thoughts might you like to add to this?
Showing posts with label worship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label worship. Show all posts
Monday, May 26, 2008
Thursday, March 06, 2008
dialing down
One of our greatest enemies is pure expectation, and I mean the kind that revolves around our wish list, having to do with our perceived needs, wants and feelings. Not that these things aren't important in their place, but they're out of place in us humans, because of sin. They displace God himself: Father, Son and Spirit. And the irony is that in the end they're only really satisfied and fulfilled in God. Which means we must leave the old path of pursuing our needs, wants in accordance with our feelings, behind.
What we need, of course it begins in Jesus, and apart from him this won't happen...., but what we need to do is to "dial down." I mean we need to put our perceived needs, wants and feelings into the hands of God. As we do that, displacing them so that the Triune God through Christ becomes the center, than we'll find that our desires eventually begin to be fulfilled.
This is not easy in this life where sin is simply turning good things into idols so that those good things, no longer received as from their Creator, God, end up sending us down a long and winding dead end path. We may get what we want, but we'll have lost something of ourselves, of our true humanity, in the process. So that what is left is less satisfying to ourselves and others around us.
To dial down for me means to quit my own expectations about life, or what anything in life ought to be. Instead I need to see what is already there and present as gifts from God. And I need to give thanks to God, worshiping only him.
We can do so only in prayer. We need to give our wills over to God and embrace his will, even when we don't understand or maybe just don't like it. Dialing down will end up getting us in on the real good, while failing to do so will see the good not last forever. In God through Jesus the real good does last forever. And better still- along with that- we'll be lost in wonder, love and praise for our God.
This is a process, and like everything else in this life involves growth on our part which will involve repentance from our old ways and repeatedly so, faith open to God's ways in Jesus so that we increasingly are on that path and grow. So that we become more and more confirmed in this.
What do you think about dialing down?
What we need, of course it begins in Jesus, and apart from him this won't happen...., but what we need to do is to "dial down." I mean we need to put our perceived needs, wants and feelings into the hands of God. As we do that, displacing them so that the Triune God through Christ becomes the center, than we'll find that our desires eventually begin to be fulfilled.
This is not easy in this life where sin is simply turning good things into idols so that those good things, no longer received as from their Creator, God, end up sending us down a long and winding dead end path. We may get what we want, but we'll have lost something of ourselves, of our true humanity, in the process. So that what is left is less satisfying to ourselves and others around us.
To dial down for me means to quit my own expectations about life, or what anything in life ought to be. Instead I need to see what is already there and present as gifts from God. And I need to give thanks to God, worshiping only him.
We can do so only in prayer. We need to give our wills over to God and embrace his will, even when we don't understand or maybe just don't like it. Dialing down will end up getting us in on the real good, while failing to do so will see the good not last forever. In God through Jesus the real good does last forever. And better still- along with that- we'll be lost in wonder, love and praise for our God.
This is a process, and like everything else in this life involves growth on our part which will involve repentance from our old ways and repeatedly so, faith open to God's ways in Jesus so that we increasingly are on that path and grow. So that we become more and more confirmed in this.
What do you think about dialing down?
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
living sacrifices
How do we respond to God's love given to us in Jesus? A love that moved God to become one of us, fully human in his Son. And a love that lived that humanity, faithfully before God as a human- though God. A love that loved to the very end, expressing that fully through his death on the cross. And then this love made alive and living, through the resurrection, after which came the ascension and then Pentecost, when Jesus, from the Father, sent the promised Holy Spirit.
In view of God's love, through the mercies of God in Christ, we're urged to offer our bodies, our lives, as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God- our true worship.
What is a living sacrifice? It's simply the offering of ourselves by faith to God. So that all of our lives are lived out as an offering, a sacrifice to God through Jesus Christ.
We should honor the martyrs of the faith. Many of them throughout the centuries, and some are suffering for their faith in Christ to this day, their lives on the brink, and sometimes taken. We tend to cast them in a higher light than ourselves, and wonder if we too could follow in their train.
But just as compelling and glorious is a life that is lived as an offering to God in Christ through all the trials and temptations we face on a regular basis, and some great ones at various times. As well as through the good times when most all seems well with us and our families, and life in general seems good. Through those times, good times and bad times, to live our lives in every part as an offering to God in Jesus. This is what it's all about. A lifetime of that can be just as glorious in God's eyes, surely, as the faithful following of Christ to the death.
Life lived with all its seriousness, fun, tasks- mundane and interesting, friendships, love, testings, trials, temptations, challenges, recreations, pleasures- everything, lived out to God as an offering in response to the love-gift of God in Jesus. This is what life is all about for us, who call ourselves by that Name.
What do you see here, or what have you found to be true about this?
In view of God's love, through the mercies of God in Christ, we're urged to offer our bodies, our lives, as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God- our true worship.
What is a living sacrifice? It's simply the offering of ourselves by faith to God. So that all of our lives are lived out as an offering, a sacrifice to God through Jesus Christ.
We should honor the martyrs of the faith. Many of them throughout the centuries, and some are suffering for their faith in Christ to this day, their lives on the brink, and sometimes taken. We tend to cast them in a higher light than ourselves, and wonder if we too could follow in their train.
But just as compelling and glorious is a life that is lived as an offering to God in Christ through all the trials and temptations we face on a regular basis, and some great ones at various times. As well as through the good times when most all seems well with us and our families, and life in general seems good. Through those times, good times and bad times, to live our lives in every part as an offering to God in Jesus. This is what it's all about. A lifetime of that can be just as glorious in God's eyes, surely, as the faithful following of Christ to the death.
Life lived with all its seriousness, fun, tasks- mundane and interesting, friendships, love, testings, trials, temptations, challenges, recreations, pleasures- everything, lived out to God as an offering in response to the love-gift of God in Jesus. This is what life is all about for us, who call ourselves by that Name.
What do you see here, or what have you found to be true about this?
Saturday, January 19, 2008
for the long haul
None of us knows how long we have here on earth before our time is up, or as we in Jesus say, before the Lord takes us "home". But I think it's important to note that while we're to live as those who are ready for our Lord's return- any day, now- we need also to be ready to honor God with our lives, over the long haul. This is what it means for us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, in gratitude for his mercies to us in Jesus- an act of true worship (Romans 12:1).
To be in it in this way is to be faithful to the end, not to the bitter end, either, though at times life may very well seem bitter. But God is with us in Jesus by the Spirit, to take off the edge, and add a sweetness that is of him, into the mix. This is how we're to live, not a down in the mouth, servile, grim existence, but a delighted, joyful, spontaneous, prayerful, sober, serious, hilarious even, trust in our God- kind of life and existence.
Grace and our response with obedient faith, alone will enable us to do this. And this is not a solitary existence, but one in company with others. Commitment to the Lord and to each other and others and to the world in which we are placed, because of Jesus. And through everything we encounter. We need to see ourselves as in it, in Jesus, for the long haul.
What might this mean for you, or what would you like to share here?
To be in it in this way is to be faithful to the end, not to the bitter end, either, though at times life may very well seem bitter. But God is with us in Jesus by the Spirit, to take off the edge, and add a sweetness that is of him, into the mix. This is how we're to live, not a down in the mouth, servile, grim existence, but a delighted, joyful, spontaneous, prayerful, sober, serious, hilarious even, trust in our God- kind of life and existence.
Grace and our response with obedient faith, alone will enable us to do this. And this is not a solitary existence, but one in company with others. Commitment to the Lord and to each other and others and to the world in which we are placed, because of Jesus. And through everything we encounter. We need to see ourselves as in it, in Jesus, for the long haul.
What might this mean for you, or what would you like to share here?
Monday, January 07, 2008
worship and emotions
I like Eugene Peterson's emphasis, in The Jesus Way: a conversation on the ways that Jesus is the way, in his chapter on Elijah on how true worship of God is grounded in the word of God and not in emotions. Peterson likens worship moved by feelings, devout as they may be, to Baalism. Baal was worshiped, along with Baal's consort, Asherah according to the perceived needs and feelings of the worshiper. And the appeal was to experience, as well as getting what the worshiper's perceived need or want, was. And doing so in a way that pandered to or completely fulfilled them emotionally.
Contrast to Yahweh worship, done in response to the word of God, done with the entire person, including senses involved, yet not on the ground of that person's wants, needs or feelings, but on the basis of God's word and in response to that. Experience could follow that, but true worship was and is not dependent on feelings or experience. We can truly worship God regardless of our feelings, whether we feel like doing so, or not. And there's danger when moved by our emotions that our worship may be driven by our experience of something good, rather than by the good itself, which is God. Of course good feelings can come from following sinful impulses as well, something part and parcel of Baal worship.
This emphasis of worship grounded in God and his word is what biblical worship is all about. As Peterson points out, true worship is not about what the worshiper gets out of it in either experience or goods. But it is simply something the worshiper does, worshiping God in response to God's word and revelation.
There is nothing wrong with emotions in worshiping; except for "the dark night of the soul", it's only human to have emotions. But the point here is that this worship is something we do, not something we feel or experience. Experience may and often will follow, though if we're looking for experience then we're not truly endeavoring to worship God.
And this is something we do by the Spirit. In response, again, to God's word. The best way to begin to "get" worship is simply by endeavoring to do it as an act of faith to God's word.
What do you think of these thoughts, or what might you like to say here?
Contrast to Yahweh worship, done in response to the word of God, done with the entire person, including senses involved, yet not on the ground of that person's wants, needs or feelings, but on the basis of God's word and in response to that. Experience could follow that, but true worship was and is not dependent on feelings or experience. We can truly worship God regardless of our feelings, whether we feel like doing so, or not. And there's danger when moved by our emotions that our worship may be driven by our experience of something good, rather than by the good itself, which is God. Of course good feelings can come from following sinful impulses as well, something part and parcel of Baal worship.
This emphasis of worship grounded in God and his word is what biblical worship is all about. As Peterson points out, true worship is not about what the worshiper gets out of it in either experience or goods. But it is simply something the worshiper does, worshiping God in response to God's word and revelation.
There is nothing wrong with emotions in worshiping; except for "the dark night of the soul", it's only human to have emotions. But the point here is that this worship is something we do, not something we feel or experience. Experience may and often will follow, though if we're looking for experience then we're not truly endeavoring to worship God.
And this is something we do by the Spirit. In response, again, to God's word. The best way to begin to "get" worship is simply by endeavoring to do it as an act of faith to God's word.
What do you think of these thoughts, or what might you like to say here?
Monday, December 31, 2007
worshiping God
What should be our priority going into the new year as marked by our calendar? Worshiping God is one good place to start.
Eugene Peterson remarks how we get into trouble when we're talking about God, rather than talking to God. To worship God is to present and offer ourselves to him because of what God in Christ did for us, in offering himself up for us. It's a response of love and it's our response to God's word.
Worship should be a regular part of what we do. Really, in a true sense we should be endeavoring to worship God in all we do. And there are those special times we set apart to express devotion to God both alone, and with others. Bot are important as we see from examples in Scripture.
Worship helps us connect with God, and helps us see our true selves. True worship allows for nothing but pure devotion to the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If there is any rival in the heart as we endeavor to so worship, God will make that known to us.
This weekend at my sister's place with her family, we had a good time of worship singing songs and mostly hymns as I played my guitar. What mattered in that is that we were seeking to worship God in our singing, and in expressing our faith with the words of the songs we sung. I need to do more of this.
If we're to have a new year's resolution, maybe a good one would be to seek to make the worship of God a practice in our daily lives and in our special gatherings. Asking that God will help us in this, as we seek to worship him.
What thought might you have on this?
Eugene Peterson remarks how we get into trouble when we're talking about God, rather than talking to God. To worship God is to present and offer ourselves to him because of what God in Christ did for us, in offering himself up for us. It's a response of love and it's our response to God's word.
Worship should be a regular part of what we do. Really, in a true sense we should be endeavoring to worship God in all we do. And there are those special times we set apart to express devotion to God both alone, and with others. Bot are important as we see from examples in Scripture.
Worship helps us connect with God, and helps us see our true selves. True worship allows for nothing but pure devotion to the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If there is any rival in the heart as we endeavor to so worship, God will make that known to us.
This weekend at my sister's place with her family, we had a good time of worship singing songs and mostly hymns as I played my guitar. What mattered in that is that we were seeking to worship God in our singing, and in expressing our faith with the words of the songs we sung. I need to do more of this.
If we're to have a new year's resolution, maybe a good one would be to seek to make the worship of God a practice in our daily lives and in our special gatherings. Asking that God will help us in this, as we seek to worship him.
What thought might you have on this?
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Advent and faith
Quite often it is the case that when we feel stuck, or out of sorts, not knowing what to do- it can be a matter of our lack of faith. We find ourselves stuck at a crossroads or down the wrong path, and really our faith seems to be going nowhere, or is stagnant. I find this to be true of myself at times.
The Magi (see this) were led by this mysterious star which led them all the way to Bethlehem where they worshiped this new King and presented gifts to him worthy of a king. Then they returned, by God's direction avoiding King Herod who was bent on destroying this new King.
Faith for us is key to be led to look towards Jesus in the first place, to be led to him and to worship him, giving our best and our all to him. We need to be thinking this season of Jesus in his coming. God becoming flesh in the Person of his Son, God's final Word to us. This is what the narrative of the New Testament is all about. God being revealed in Jesus, and what all of that means for us all, and for the world.
Everything else then, can take its proper place in light of this wonderful revelation to us, as we embrace this revelation and gift by faith. Our faith may be weak and wobbly, but it can become stronger and more steady as we keep our eyes on the star which leads our eyes to become fixed on Jesus.
Whatever faces us, let's remember this star, and Jesus. And let's worship him this season, giving our best and our all to him.
How do you think this star can apply to our lives? How can this help us, or even hinder us? Or whatever you might like to add here.
The Magi (see this) were led by this mysterious star which led them all the way to Bethlehem where they worshiped this new King and presented gifts to him worthy of a king. Then they returned, by God's direction avoiding King Herod who was bent on destroying this new King.
Faith for us is key to be led to look towards Jesus in the first place, to be led to him and to worship him, giving our best and our all to him. We need to be thinking this season of Jesus in his coming. God becoming flesh in the Person of his Son, God's final Word to us. This is what the narrative of the New Testament is all about. God being revealed in Jesus, and what all of that means for us all, and for the world.
Everything else then, can take its proper place in light of this wonderful revelation to us, as we embrace this revelation and gift by faith. Our faith may be weak and wobbly, but it can become stronger and more steady as we keep our eyes on the star which leads our eyes to become fixed on Jesus.
Whatever faces us, let's remember this star, and Jesus. And let's worship him this season, giving our best and our all to him.
How do you think this star can apply to our lives? How can this help us, or even hinder us? Or whatever you might like to add here.
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