I am sitting on a bus, which is on it's way to a speech competition in Omaha. I am listening to my regular playlist, just like always. Suddenly a Chris Tomlin song comes on. Nothing new, but for some reason today it sticks out even more than usual. The song is How Great is Our God.
Usually I just listen to this song, maybe sing along, and think nothing of it. But today is different. I am not sure why, but my whole outlook is different as I hear it today. I look out the window and just marvel at creation. How beautiful it is, how pure, how perfect. God made it all, and sometimes we take for granted how spectacular it really is.
As I sit and quietly reflect I am being torn down. God is really letting me have it. How lately I haven't been the true servant I should be, how I have been putting Him off. It hurts when I think of all the opportunities I have been given this week to make something amazing out of a simple situation, and how many times I have turned God down just because I didn't want to. How selfish I have been.
It's not always easy to do what God asks. Most of the time it is just plain hard.
It wasn't guaranteed to be easy, it was just guaranteed to be worth it. I am reminded of that today. So I will try harder to have reckless obedience towards God. We could all use more of that. But my point doesn't end there.
What would happen if songs were more than just songs to us? If when we heard them we actually took the meanings to heart and did more than just sing? Worship is not just singing. It it showing our adoration and thankfulness to God, honoring Him. So maybe the next time a song comes on the radio, you shouldn't sing, maybe you should just sit quietly and honestly reflect on it. The outcome might just surprise you.
"When the music fades, and all is stripped away, and I simply come. Longing just to bring something thats of worth, that will bless Your heart. I'll bring You more than a song for a song in itself, it's not what You have required. You search much deeper within through the way things appear, You're looking into my heart." -Matt Redman, Heart of Worship.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
The Stuggle to be Humble
Today I was reading through the creation story. You're probably thinking oh yeah, big deal, heard it a thousand times. If you are like me and grew up in the church you probably have this story memorized. It starts to seem like just another event, something that isn't that important.
But that's where you are wrong. In my opinion, this is one of the most overlooked stories in the bible. We seem to minimize this marvelous event, when in fact we should hold it even higher. This is the story of how we came to be! How God made us!
What gets me most is how much effort had to be put in on God's part: He didn't break a sweat, He didn't even lift a finger! He merely spoke and the world came into existence, the cosmos were created! No big deal for God. This just shows how mightly and powerful our God is.
But it also shows how small we are. This is were the humbleness part of the post comes in. It's is so easy for us to make ourselves into something so big, like we are the most important, like we're the ones that need exhaulted. We tend to put God in a box of sorts. Store Him away until we need Him because we're okay and we can do just fine by ourselves. That couldn't be farther from the truth.
We need to realize that God isn't some small thing that can be smothered and put away. He is bigger than we could ever imagine. Think back to the creation story: it was so easy for God to create us, how easy would it be to destroy us? But the God of the Universe loves us and chooses to dwell in us all. He paid the ultimate price for us and just wants our love in return. He wants to have an eternal, never ending relationship with us.
So shouldn't we give Him more credit? Shouldn't we be lifting Him up instead of ourselves? The next time that you get a big head about something or take all the glory for your talents, remember who created you and gave you all those talents. Maybe you'll be like me, and start to see things in a different light.
But that's where you are wrong. In my opinion, this is one of the most overlooked stories in the bible. We seem to minimize this marvelous event, when in fact we should hold it even higher. This is the story of how we came to be! How God made us!
What gets me most is how much effort had to be put in on God's part: He didn't break a sweat, He didn't even lift a finger! He merely spoke and the world came into existence, the cosmos were created! No big deal for God. This just shows how mightly and powerful our God is.
But it also shows how small we are. This is were the humbleness part of the post comes in. It's is so easy for us to make ourselves into something so big, like we are the most important, like we're the ones that need exhaulted. We tend to put God in a box of sorts. Store Him away until we need Him because we're okay and we can do just fine by ourselves. That couldn't be farther from the truth.
We need to realize that God isn't some small thing that can be smothered and put away. He is bigger than we could ever imagine. Think back to the creation story: it was so easy for God to create us, how easy would it be to destroy us? But the God of the Universe loves us and chooses to dwell in us all. He paid the ultimate price for us and just wants our love in return. He wants to have an eternal, never ending relationship with us.
So shouldn't we give Him more credit? Shouldn't we be lifting Him up instead of ourselves? The next time that you get a big head about something or take all the glory for your talents, remember who created you and gave you all those talents. Maybe you'll be like me, and start to see things in a different light.
Psalms 71:14
But as for me,
I will always have hope;
I will praise you more and more.
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