Nothing Compares

"For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. "1 Cor 15:22-28

I was reading this passage in preparation for Sunday School this week and this passage really "popped"out at me. Understanding that the Lord's ultimate purpose for my life is for Him to receive glory, I was reminded by this scripture that Christ himself is modeling this for me. He is the firstfruits. Each of us is given a vocation (or several); things that God has assigned us to do in order to complete His purpose. When we walk in obedience and fulfill His plan, we in fact show God that He and His plan are worth more to us than anything else. The scripture states that Christ himself will lay it all down so that "God may be all in all". The proclamation that God's worth is greater than any of my pursuits is the ultimate declaration of worship. This thought tonight brings to mind an old worship tune, and my heartfelt expression of His incredible worth to me as I meditate on Him:

"Lord you are more precious than silver,

Lord You are more costly than gold,

Lord You are more beautiful than diamonds,

and nothing I desire compares with you."

Galoneda

Bringing someone to Christ is our greatest act of worship. As some of you may know, the Lord has been been working in my heart to begin outreaching the Cherokee Shores addition. It has been amazing how He is at work and laying this vision on the hearts of many others. I have created another blog dedicated specifically to this outreach. It would be my honor for you to stop by for a visit.

You Complete Me...

If we don't worship God, we always end up worshiping something. My friend Jacki writes about this in her latest post titled "You Complete Me..." She says, "Maybe our worship needs to be shifted from a flawed man or woman to an undconditional loving King who came to bear the words “it is finished” and to make you complete." It's a good post. You should check it out!

The Wars of Worship

A couple of weeks ago we were part of "A Concert of Love" held at FBC in Kemp, Texas as a fund raiser for one of the churches in the area. There were twelve churches from various denominations, and the musicians from each of the congregations shared. It was a true hodgepodge of styles (from black gospel to country to contemporary) It was a great night! I really enjoyed the variety of all of the different musical styles and enjoyed worshipping in the spirit that pervaded the room. Everyone had an understanding that what was being offered was for the Lord. That night and the common understanding shared by everyone there got me thinking about all of the contention surrounding "the right way to worship" based on the musical styles.

Over the years I have seen people adamantly dispel the validity of contemporary worship music, because by their standards “it’s worldly”. It happened to Handel. When he wrote “The Messiah”, influential churchmen of the day denounced it as “profane and unseemly”. On the same note, I have known “contemporary worship buffs” to denounce older church music as “dead”. I have found these attitudes to always be equally grieving.

It does not surprise me that the first real contention (and murder) listed in scripture was spurred by a disagreement over "right way to worship"? Cain’s attitude of jealous rage was spurred by an improper understanding of who true worship is for, and his misunderstanding was soon translated into evil action. I think we should be very wary of giving our thumbs up or thumbs down when it comes to "the right way" of worshipping. The only “right” worship is that offered to the Lord, from the heart, in spirit and truth.

Breaks Over!!!

Wow! I don't know what happened but I look at my blog and realize that is has been weeks since I posted. I have all of these great ideas bouncing around in the dark, empty space between my ears, and think to myself "oh, that is going on my blog." Then I get busy and don't post. I'm sure that has never happened to anyone else, but just to set the record straight, I have officially terminated my break from blogging. I'm back like a bad habit. :)