"Be my everything! -Tim Hughes
Much of the time after a hard day's work, a stressful day of taking care of the kids, or maybe just a tiring day of school and homework we like to unwind and relax, entertain ourselves with thoughtless things: TV, movies, or games. We all look forward to the weekend and our days off when we can relax and do nothing, after all our chores, of course. When tuning out our brains to the things of this world like work and responsibilities of the week with entertainment, we often tune ourselves out to the things of God, and in turn, tune ourselves out in church. Church is supposed to be one of the most engaging times of the week where we get to learn about God and His character, worship Him in song, and serve our brothers and sister in fellowship.
Worship is not a time for entertainment to empty our minds and relax. Worship is engaging wholeheartedly with the Holy Spirit, singing songs of great doctrine, praise, and thanksgiving! Yes, we empty our minds of the things of this world, but then we fill them full with the things of God.
To the Leaders
To the leaders and lead worshippers, don't just give people songs to sing and hope they engage in them. Teach them the songs. Teach them the doctrine of the songs through Scripture. Encourage them to engage and not be disengaged from worshipping our great God! Remember to not be tuned out yourself. All too often I catch myself disengaged and going with the flow. How foolish of me that I would neglect the praise and worship of my God! Worship is not entertainment.
To the People
To the people, make the effort to praise God. If you don't know how or don't have the heart to worship, pray. Ask God to give you a heart and mind focused on worshipping Him. Don't disengage yourself from worship to daydream, to think about what's for lunch after church, to people watch, or to sleep. Don't entertain yourself with distractions that in turn make you not think about the time of worship. Engage yourself, put your engine of worship into drive, and praise your God!
Personal Time
Even more so than in times of musical worship in church is your time of worship by yourself. To both leaders and followers, don't thoughtlessly entertain yourself day to day. David wrote in the Psalm 1, "Blessed is the man...who delights in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night." Don't miss this! Brothers and sisters, please get this! Blessed, happy, are you when you delight in the Word of God, when you meditate on it day and night! We weren't designed to thoughtlessly entertain ourselves. We were designed to mentally engage in the Scriptures and the things of God. So grab your Bible, a book by Spurgeon or Edwards, or talk with a Christian brother or sister and engage in the things of the Lord. Find a ministry to serve in instead of being served. This is where it all starts. This is where you begin to engage in worship.
Commune with your God day to day, seeking Him first. He is not a God of thoughtless entertainment. He is a vastly deep God with no limit of understanding, no limit of glory, no limit of holiness. Commune with Him. Make your delight in Him. Make it your aim to get to know Him. Don't put Him off six days of the week thinking you can come to church on the seventh day and have a wonderful time praising and glorifying Him. You will never enjoy worship like you could if you neglect Him like that. No wonder you lead worshippers lose focus and just go with the flow! No wonder you stand so statuesque during worship, people of God! I beg you, don't let yourself become apathetic in your day to day walk with the Lord that your personal worship is forgotten and worship in church becomes thoughtless entertainment.
Pray with me today. Ask God to give us a heart and mind that is delighted in Him above everything else, that we wouldn't become apathetic in our relationship with Him, and that worshipping Him would become so natural to us that it flows out from us.
Blessings,
Nick
