"You cannot commend what you do not cherish..."

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
Revelation 4:11

"Worship" = the object of adoring reverence or regard. (dictionary.com)

"Worship"= having weight, something of great value" (Greek NT)

This week I am meditating on worship. What it is and what role it should play in my life. Now I'm not talking about a time on Sunday morning but rather a deep rooted passion to give all that I am to all that HE is! As I was driving into the office this morning, I began thinking about my own passion towards God. I mean I'm a pretty passionate person. So when I go in... I go all in! I'm passionate about family, friends, UT sports, Chuy's (the most amazing tex-mex ever), the persecuted church, the poor and neglected, those who have no voice, missions, preaching the word of God, sharing my faith...among other things. And what I am noticing in my own life is this... that my passion for God is directly connected to my worship of HIM privately. In simplistic words ... what I share & show publicly about Christ must first start privately in my own heart! However for some time now I really have been battling a divided heart. I find myself drifting more and more into indifference, into a state of luke-warmness as it relates to my passion for Christ. But I refuse to give in to that and I refuse to live inauthentically for Christ. We have enough of that in our culture today. So what is it that robs me of my passion for the one who deeply loves me and knows ever fault I have and yet still chooses to never let go of my life?

I guess I have to say it is the love of other things! Its not that I don't have a deep love for Christ...I do... but love is not a feeling! It is a committment! It gives itself away sacrificially! And I am starting to notice that my passion for Christ begins to get dilluded when I begin to give my "worship" to other things in my life that just don't matter. You see I am realizing that whatever I give glory to...(ie...friends, family, UT sports, Chuy's, missions, poor, etc...) is really what I worship. Because we give glory to those things we attach great value to. Now there is nothing wrong with being a great father or husband, or taking care of the poor or serving in missions, being a UT sports fanatic or Chuy's addict... but if I am more passionate about giving glory to those things and seeking pleasure from those things than I am about giving glory and worship to my God than there is a problem. A problem with me! Maybe the unbelievers out there who look at Christianity today and scoff have a legitimate gripe! I mean "We" say we know God...we say that he has changed our lives and that He lives in us ... We say that we believe he created the heavens and the earth, and yet we live so passively for his glory and his name. Albert Einstein himself was very skeptical about Christianity and its claims for that very reason. He did not think the religious had enough respect for the author of the universe. So the issue is not that the unbelieving world finds God unbelievable...its just they haven't been convinced yet, based on our lives that we believe it!

As I meditate on this passage in Revelation ... I notice that John is very purposed in declaring God's preeminence and position in the earth and in his life. John writes “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things." Right before this verse we see the 24 elders in heaven bowing down and casting their crowns before the ONE who was and who is and who is to come. These crowns represent their power, their authority, their own right to rule and yet when they see his glory, his majesty, and when they are embraced by his power & presence and they do the only thing they can do...they fall on their face under the "weight" of who He is and they "worship" Him alone!

Bottom line...true worship of Christ demands my all! As I read this passage this morning I am convinced that I must be "willing" to lay anything and everything down that I hold onto in this life because compared to the glory of God and who he is and what he has done ... nothing else really matters! My prayer today is that my life, love and passion for God would burn bright on the altar of worship! And just maybe as I begin to live in awe of who God is in my own life, maybe ...just maybe others will be able to come and light their candle at its flame!

Not Ashamed...Bill