Meaningful Worship

On the long jaunt to Springfield every night for well, this whole summer, I have enjoyed listening to WLUJ which for the most part consists of nightly sermons. Recently, Dr. David Jeremiah has been speaking about true worship. One illustration he used really struck me. He spoke of a deacon that had died and gone to heaven. As the deacon stood before an angel, they both looked down upon a worship service on earth. The angel explained the events of the scene, however, the deacon was still confused. "Where is the volume? There is no audio. I see that they are singing, but I can't hear anything." The angel replied, "Oh yes, I forgot to tell you....Up here we only hear genuine, heart-felt worship. What you are witnessing is outward worship, but not worship of the heart. That is why you don't hear anything."

Ouch! I guess I had never really thought of my unfocused worship in that light before. God truly doesn't hear anything. If my heart is not right, and I am not truly focused on surrendering my all before his throne, he doesn't hear a single note. How often have I stood in his house, singing along with the praise band, but not truly meaning the words? How many times have a stood singing a song aloud trying to find a pretty harmony note instead of focusing on the One I am singing for? It doesn't matter how melodically pleasing I make those songs if my heart isn't in it. Just some food for thought...

Little Children

This morning I spent a few hours babysitting a three-year- old, Loren Paul. Wow! What energy! People sometimes tell me I have too much, but they obviously haven't spent enough time around a preschooler. Regardless, Loren and I spent about the first hour playing a classic game in his backyard: hide-and-seek. He loved the thrill of searching for a while, and suddenly discovering me right under his nose. He would shrill with laughter each time he stumbled upon me. One time in particular, I found an unusually good hiding spot, and he searched for minutes to no avail. After these minutes continued ticking by, Loren started to get a little antsy. He called out for me, "Kelsey? Kelsey?" Each time he called his tone became a little more concerned. As I sat in my hiding spot, I contemplated whether to call out to him to tell him where I was or not. I didn't want to ruin the joy of him finding me, but I also couldn't bear to watch him become frantic as he couldn't find me. Right before the tears started to come and the panic began to set in, he frantically looked around one last time, and what did he see? ME! He ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug he could muster and said, "Oh Kelsey, I thought you left me!" and I said "Loren Paul, I would NEVER do that. I was just hiding from you waiting for you to come find me, and you did!" We both cheered, laughed, hugged again, and continued on with our game.

As we played today, I began to realize how God sometimes plays hide-and-seek with us. Of course, He NEVER leaves us, but at times he may not be as evident as He once was. But, just like Loren, if we continue to seek him out will all of our hearts, we will undoubtedly find him (Jer. 29:13). In fact, after those times when we have to search more intently, our joy is intensified when we do find him. We come to a realization of our dependency on him, and we enter his kingdom with the spirit of a little child.