Plugging In

As is obvious when observing my lack of blog postings over the last several months, I've been struggling with what to write for quite some time. I don't want to say something just for the sake of saying something, so I wait until I feel that I have something of worth to say. Which again, hasn't been as often as I would like.

However over the past three weeks or so God has been laying something on my heart that I finally feel ready to share with you.

It actually began months ago when I was at The Rock during the worship part of our service, and I noticed something. While everyone on stage was full of life and energy, the majority of the people I could see were sitting back in their seats, some watching with a glazed over look in their eyes, others twiddling around on their phones, completely ignoring what was going on around them. Even as I observed it, I sensed it in myself. I was standing, singing and clapping, but there was a half-heartedness to it that I detested the moment I recognized it.

This is not a show, I thought to myself. I knew it was only an echo of what God was saying to all of us.

In Amos 5 God says,

"I hate, I despise your religious feasts;

I cannot stand your assemblies.

Even though you bring me burnt offerings

and grain offerings,

I will not accept them.

Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,

I will have no regard for them.

Away with the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

But let justice roll on like a river,

righteousness like a never-failing stream!"

I found this verse after listening to a song by Jon Foreman, lead singer of the band Switchfoot, called Instead of a Show. In it he says, "Away with your noisy worship, away with your noisy hymns. I stop up my ears when I'm hearing them. I hate all your show." It's alarming, in a way, to realize that not only does God recognize when we aren't worshiping Him, but that he is disgusted by it!

Fortunately, at some point in what was really only the noise of the service, someone addressed the crowd's detachment, and challenged everyone to deeper engagement. I hadn't been the only one who'd noticed, and I was thankful for the challenge. But something about that morning has stuck with me over the months.

However it wasn't until a few weeks ago while I was visiting Colorado that I really began hearing God speaking to me regarding worship.

It was Easter morning and I was back at my home church, New Life. Worship began, and almost immediately I started to tear up. It had nothing to do with the song, it wasn't the familiarity of the worship leader's voice, it wasn't the sound of the instruments...

It was the spirit of worship in the room.

Being back in the midst of it nearly broke me down completely. I have been privileged enough to grow up in a church that practices extravagant worship. It's what has caused us to stand up under the weight of a scandal and a shooting, and it is what defines our community more than any other aspect of our church - more than the great sermons, more than the heart for missions, more than the fantastic youth groups, and certainly more than being "that big church in Colorado Springs."

Lifting the name of Jesus high, week-in and week-out. That is what we strive to be about.

I was choked up the entire worship service. I get choked up thinking about it now. There is something so beautiful about "ekklesia," the Greek word for church meaning "the gathering of called-out ones," coming together to worship the one, true God.

My soul craved it, and as worship ended I knew that at my core, I still needed filling. I ended up staying for the next service's worship, marveling at what God was doing in my midst. I walked out of church that day refreshed and grateful for the chance to realign myself with the majesty of who God is.

Since then, God has been speaking these truths and hasn't let me rest from them:

First, that the way I worship reveals the posture of my heart toward Him. It speaks to who I really see Him as, and whether or not I think He's really worth worshiping all the time.

Second, that if I'm not worshiping Him on a Sunday morning it's fairly safe to say that I'm not worshiping him throughout my week.

And third, that I cannot worship anything or anyone else if I am truly worshiping God. Therefore I must consciously choose who I will devote myself to wholeheartedly.

If worship were only for Sundays, things would be easy to fix. Just bumping up the energy of our shows would probably do the trick. We might experience temporary satisfaction, and God would be left with nothing to do but sit back and clap for an encore. You liked that, God? Well just wait 'til you see what we have for you NEXT week!

But God says that worship is about the state of our hearts. That's something we can't fake. He looks inside of us and knows the sincerity of our hearts better than we ourselves do. And what's more, he's not just looking at us on Sundays. Sunday worship services are not a scheduled "heart check-up" he makes, and they're not meant to be our weekly "dose" of good medicine.

Worship is meant to be something we live out all week.

Oh, I know that, I remember thinking. I love worship music. That's all I've been listening to lately!

But God was saying something more.

The state of your heart colors every conversation you have, every act of service you perform, every thought that crosses your mind. My desire is for your heart to be like mine. In the moments that this becomes your desire as well, THOSE are the moments you are truly living worship.

Notice he doesn't expect perfection. It really is about the state of our hearts. Are our desires lined up with his? We may mess up, but he covers us with his grace, only asking that we realign ourselves with him again.

To be honest, I get overwhelmed with the task of worshiping God all the time. I know I can't do it perfectly, and thats frustrating. But he looks at my heart and in the moments that he observes a true and pure desire to glorify him in everything I do, he smiles. That's what he's looking for.

What I am looking for is an increase in the frequency of those moments!

In my prayer journal I have a statement written down which I felt God speaking to me a couple weeks ago that reminds me of that. It says, "You've been unplugged. The source has never changed or moved, you simply weren't connected. Plug in."

God knows how easily we get unplugged, but he wants connection. He wants to be a part of our daily lives. We hear that all the time, but how often do we actually invite him in? I once heard someone say, "God is a gentleman. He's not going to barge in, he wants to be invited." It sounds so simple, but as I've begun practicing this discipline in earnest, I've found that I need to do it several times a day. Not for "good measure," but because I truly need to remind myself to plug in that often.

Worship isn't always about singing. Most of the time it's about inviting God into the little moments, asking him to align our hearts with his, and giving him the chance to move and act in the midst of our words, actions, and thoughts.

I hope you'll join me in learning how to do that. It takes conscious effort, but I believe that where we set our gaze, we will go.

There is more to be said, but I think I will end today with that. I'll be posting again soon.

"I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always

be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord;

let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together."

~Psalm 34:1-3