I don’t talk to my siblings very often, in addition to the time conflicts; there are years, work, families, and miles between us. However, I know beyond any doubt I could pick up the phone today and if needed all my siblings would be here to help in any crisis anytime. We got that attitude from our parents, and I hope I have passed it on to my children. With my folks the priorities were very clear: God, family a very close second, then country, followed by everything else… precisely in that order.
My number two question in my “mid life crisis” is, what is really important to me? For me it’s the list my folks ingrained in my mind and life; God, Family, and then everything else. Today’s question forces me to first look at what does it mean for God to be the most important thing in my life? To borrow from a favorite movie how do I keep the main thing the main thing?
This is a biggie and my answer will differ from yours even if you agree with God’s rightful preeminence in our lives. Some that voiced objection to my previous post about what a church should look like objected because of the heartfelt need of collective worship of God. Some feel that through collective “worship” we give God preeminence.
What is worship? An old hymn, a somewhat newer chorus, a drum filled Christian rock and roll styled song, a moving sermon? A catholic friend once told me the Lord’s Supper was the highest form of worship. These things are good and may inspire me to worship but to worship God I think it is more.
The meaning of the word worship is an image of someone kissing the ground before a superior, bowing, prostrating, humbling. Worship is an act that indicates to another that person’s preeminence. When I great someone I shake hands so bowing or prostrating myself doesn’t translate well in my life. How in my culture do I demonstrate that someone is my superior? I do by yielding to their will, their desires, and their commands. I demonstrate honor to my boss at work by yielding to his decision, I demonstrate honor to those in authority by yielding to their requests. I honor my family when I yield to their needs. To truly worship God requires me to yield to him.
I think I have been guilty of substituting church attendance for worship, for substituting the emotion derived from music and praise for worship, for substituting talented inspiring speaking for worship. I have become more self-centered, become more captivated by the feelings than to the God who created my ability to feel and all the while less effective and less obedient.
Music, preaching, even healings are not worship in and of themselves but tools to inspire me to worship or even better, the outward sign of a life that has been forfeited. Just as my siblings would demonstrate their love and loyalty to family by dropping everything, yielding to another’s need, I demonstrate my love for God and truly honor or worship him by yielding to his will, by learning to be obedient, whether or not I was in “Church” last Sunday. For God to be the first thing in my life I need to learn to yield to his will, his commands, and his purposes.
Jesus said ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind…’ Yep it’s a mid life crisis… My prayer is “what now?”
David
