Wholehearted Worship, Being “All
In”
What
are idols? What does it really mean to worship God? What does it mean to be in
a committed love based relationship with God? These are all things I’ve been
learning about this week. And it has been awesome to see how God has used one
lesson and linked it right into the next. These are all things that are
changing the way I view my relationship with God. So I wanted to share!
What
are idols? Earlier in the week I watched a video about idolatry. Idolatry is
not just worshiping a little figurine made of wood or marble. Idolatry is
worshipping anything other than God. I have been realizing how guilty I am of
this since I started college. I’m pretty good at making idols out of pretty
much everything… my computer, my friends, boys, self image, etc.! An idol is
anything that is a distraction from God. I was sitting in my room one night
this week when I felt the Spirit urging me to spend some time in worship and
prayer. So I shut down the computer and set the phone aside for a while and
just tried to listen to what God had to say. I ended up feeling led to check
out some YouTube videos and God led me to a Jefferson Bethke video that dealt
with this issue of idols. Counterfeit Gods Explanation
That
led to the answer of the question, what does it really mean to worship God? The
videos I watched described worship in a way I’d never thought of before. They
described worship as a way of living, a way of prioritizing your life. You
worship anything you give priority to in your life. What’s on the throne of
your life? What would you give up anything to have? What would hurt you if you
lost it? That’s what you worship. We scoff at the Hebrews and their golden calf
but the reality is that we have plenty of golden calves in our lives. I was worshiping
a lot of other things. And the worst part is I have been worshiping them more
than I worship God. I have been desiring creation over the Creator. But the
creation can never give me satisfaction. And the creation didn’t die on a cross
to save me from my sins. The creation doesn’t love me like Jesus does!
And
I realized the answer to the last question. What does it mean to have a
committed love-based relationship with God? I realized that an important part
of any relationship is that it requires you to do something on your part too.
What was I doing to show God that I loved him? I’ll be honest, I was slacking
big time on my end. Because it’s not just about his love for me, it’s also
about my love for him. A relationship takes two persons giving effort, not just
one. Worship is just the act of loving on something. So I need to start being
more intentional about how I show love to God. I’m going to do this by setting
aside times in my week to actually go on a date with God, go to Starbucks or
something and bring my Bible and just talk to God and let him talk to me. That’s
how I would show love to a person, so why not love on God that way too?
I
realized all of this just in time for my church’s weekend worship experience.
We had a special worship night on Saturday and then had a message on worship on
Sunday morning. Saturday night I lifted my heart up to God, declaring that I
was his and wanted him to overwhelm my heart and get rid of the distractions
that I knew were idols in my life. I didn’t want them anymore! I didn’t want
anything else other than to be totally and completely satisfied with a love
based relationship with him. I didn’t need any other thing or any other person,
I just wanted to be surrendered totally and completely to Jesus. I didn’t want
the creation I wanted the Creator. The next morning in church, my pastor made
an analogy in his sermon about being “all in” for Jesus just as you would be in
a poker game. Sometimes that takes a lot of risk but the risk is always
rewarded when you’re going all in for Jesus. I made that decision to be all in,
to have no more idols and to only worship my God.
Sure
enough shortly after church was over, God took away the distractions that I had
in my life just as I had asked him to the night before. I spent some time in
worship and prayer about it all afterwards and had peace about everything that
I know only comes from God. I felt a sense of joy that God had answered my
prayer to help me be closer to him. And I committed myself to him again, I gave
myself to him and removed myself and the selfish desires I had from being a
hindrance in my relationship with him. “God, I’m all in. I’m giving you my all.
I worship you. I love you. I am committing myself completely to this
relationship with you. I don’t want anything else anymore.”
It
amazes me to think back on this week. I learned so many different little
lessons. I had no idea that they would all connect at the end, but God worked
them all together for his glory. I will never understand his ways, but I love
understanding the purpose behind everything when he finally brings it all
together. It always blows my mind. He is so good to me. And he has not given up
on me. He is working on my heart and teaching me daily. I am so thankful for
this love based relationship I have with my Jesus.
