Blind Spots...

During this mornings Bible study time, I came across a verse that really opened my eyes! In Romans 15:5-6 Paul's prays this prayer, "Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." This got me thinking that living in harmony takes endurance and encouragement from God. This is not something we can accomplish with our own strength or with our own strategies. Our wisdom alone will more than likely only make things worse! 

Another part of this verse talks about     "one voice." When I read this I visualized a massive choir singing an Eric Whitacre piece (as seen in the video). Recently Whitacre put together a "virtual choir" in which people submitted videos from all over the world. When you simply listen to the track they sound as if they are all together performing as a choir. However, they are all in separate places. The harmonies are blending, the vowels are together, and the choir sounds as if it is "one voice" singing praise to God. It really is an amazing display of Gods provisions for us. 

When dealing with music in general, relationships don't interfere with the harmonies and melodies being performed. Like in the video above we can be miles apart but still make the musical connection. But, when we turn our attention to bringing God the glory through our music and connection; we find that we cannot praise God one moment, criticize our pastor the next, and think we're offering acceptable praise to God through Jesus Christ. This is why I have come to the conclusion that in order to have significant worship we must put to death any selfishness that is in us - so that Christ might be seen more clearly seen through us. 


Often our view of who we are is completely different from others view of us. Sin is deceptive in this capacity. Most of us have "blind spots" to our imperfections. Sometimes it takes a friendly nudge or an kind gesture to help us see our "blind spots" so we can avoid a major crash! We should thank God daily for placing people in our lives that can help us see what we cannot see ourselves. 

God's plan is always better than our own and I am convicted that He intends to use our relationships to make us more like His Son. In this process we must become more effective in serving the church and bringing God the glory! 

A Matter of Heart

Have you ever felt as if your heart just wasn't in it? Speaking honestly, I have felt this way about many things. Two years ago I taught middle school orchestra. Although I learned much in my experience, I had a pour spirit because "my heart wasn't in it." To be frank... I don't think it had anything to do with my heart at all. Maybe, I was there for a season and my purpose was something greater than my own ambitions. Too often our own ambitions, our own desires - cloud our "hearts." We become self-serving and arrogant in our own ambitions.

One of the greatest challenges we face, as worshippers, is what we offer to God when we worship. Though it seems odd... we often make too much of ourselves in worship. We make too much of the styles of music, lights, how good someone sounds, or whether or not we get to "perform" each week. We have created barriers in our places of worship that keep us from truly experiencing God. The funny thing is, NONE of these barriers have anything to do with God. They are all a matter of heart. Take for instance - style of music. Music alone is a preference, not a purpose; it is a style, not a gateway to God; it stirs emotional feelings, not passions of the heart. When we put our own preferences ahead of God we are worshipping our own "golden" idol. We must remember that Jesus said the greatest commandment was, "You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matt. 22:37) This is a very simplistic way to look at our worship! God is Love, therefore our worship will be what we love the most. If you love a particular "style" of music then that style becomes a barrier to true worship! What we love the most will determine what we genuinely worship! It is just too bad that most of the time, because of our sinful nature, we love ourselves more than we love the Lord. We put our own interests and our own desires ahead of His.

My "Corny-Tacky" Valentines Day

I like to think of myself as being pretty good at "corny-tacky love." On our first valentines day, I made my wife (girlfriend at the time) a giant heart shaped cookie, some homemade flowers out of tissue paper, and a homemade card. She would recall this as her favorite Valentine's Day moment. For me I remember it as a lot of hard work! Don't get me wrong, it was worth it! I mean she did eventually marry me! I remember that because I was so broke - I needed to create my gifts to her. It took me days to make the flowers out of tissue paper and I burnt the first cookie! All of my hard work and dedication paid off!! I remember nervously giving these gifts to her, wondering if she would even like them. Needless to say it was a hit!

What I learned? Certain things in life require dedication, time, and energy. My Valentines Day gift is not the reason my wife decided to marry me (or at least I hope not), but it was something that showed her how much I love and care about her. It showed her, in this time-sensitive world, how much she meant to me. To be honest, just spending quality time with her would have been enough, but this was going the "extra mile." I didn't just pick up the phone and order flowers or stop by the store and get her chocolates - I invested time and energy into her gift. While this day was special and we will always remember it, a dedication to love and an energy must be spent daily on loving our spouse. I can tell you that there is nothing corny or tacky about my love for my wife! She is an amazing women and I love her to death!

All of this got me thinking... God is Love! He should be our everything, yet we give him the leftovers of our time. For most of us, if God were a significant other - he would be highly neglected because He is often an afterthought to our actions. There is a marriage between Christians & Christ. He is the Bridegroom and we are the bride! There is a song on called "My Everything" and it says: 

"You're more than just a song, 

More than just a whim,

More than just a passing fantasy.

You're my everyday, 

You're my every way, 

You're my everything." 

I pray that today - on this "love day" that we all grow in the knowledge of Christ's love for the church. I pray that we learn to love Him more than the things of this world and to grow in this love. Let us seek him together so that others may see His light in us! I pray that Christ becomes what this song so eloquently speaks.... Amen. 

An IDLE-FREE zone...don't be an "idle" worshiper

There are many talented musicians that can easily lead the music in a church. They can say the right things, sing on key, excite a congregation, and give emotion to a service. But in the end, the only thing that is on display is the music itself. Unfortunately, the music will fade, the lights will dim, and the emotions will change. So how do we experience worship that is more than superficial? How do we seek a deeper meaning of worship so that our emotions turn to experience, our songs turn to passion, and our passion drives us into a lost world? As worship leaders we may have the skills and talents to lead songs, but what about our ability to lead in worship? Does our lifestyle align with what we say we believe? Does what we believe align with the truth of God's word? These are questions that I ask myself daily and here is the conclusion that I have found and I think they apply to all worshipers... 

Every worshiper should be growing daily in their understanding of God's characteristics. Further, what we know is important, because it deals with our ideas about God. This makes a difference in how we worship God. What we believe about God is how we worship Him. The more we learn about Him, the more we will want to worship Him. The more we worship Him, the more we’ll want to know Him. The more we know Him, the more we’ll want to be with Him… then love Him… then serve Him. And on and on it goes. Just as God daily grew His universe, we must grow our relationship with God. We must know His character. Remember, worship is both —revelation and response. We must seek God through His word and He will reveal Himself to us there. Then through obedience we must respond to Him. James wrote, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people!” When we draw near to God he will reply by drawing near to us. The more we know God—the deeper our worship will be. As followers we will better understand who God is and how he has revealed Himself.  Too often we read the Bible as a self-help book. We want to learn how we can lead a successful life instead of how we can discover the God who has revealed Himself.

So let's view worship as a lifelong mission... John Piper states that, "...there is no standing still in the Christian life. Either we are advancing toward salvation, or we are drifting away toward destruction." The Christian life is a journey. It is an adventure. We are never standing still "idling" in one place spiritually. We are always growing, always maturing, and always learning more about who we are worshiping. We should never be satisfied with our praise to Him. We should have an unquenchable attitude about worship. Yes our salvation is free and it cannot be taken from us, but we have to continue moving forward toward the prize. Otherwise we become like stagnate water, which is pure and fresh with its onset, but as it sits still - it becomes tainted, needing to be cleansed. However, we must not see worship as a task, but as a service to God. If we were to be assigned something on the secular level we would put effort into maintaining that assignment to the best of our ability. Worship is no different, except that in maintaining our worshipful life we must strive for better excellence daily. The aspects of worship are simply defined, but the heart of the worshiper is more complex. If we are to become servants to God, we must become servants to worshiping Him. We are to worship God by living a lifestyle that is pleasing to Him. Everyday we should become better worshipers, like David. Seeking genuine private worship will expand our corporate worship experience. Choosing a quality of worship over the quantity of  how, when, or where we worship; places the focus on God and not on us.