In a recent blog, I dealt with the topic of worship and how worship changes you. J. W. Tozer has said that worship is the missing jewel in evangelical circles. Tozer received his heavenly crown in 1963, so his observation is at least 60 years old. But I believe it is still true today. 

We often refer to what we do on Sunday morning as “going to church.” I submit that going to church and worshiping are not necessarily the same thing.  Worship is transformational, it changes us.  We can attend  “church” services and not come away changed. 

The difference, I think, is in our view of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. What is missing in our attempts at worship? If we do not have a high, exalted view of God, we aren’t worshiping. I recall one occasion when my grandmother was preparing a meal which included her signature squash casserole. Those at the table complimented her on the meal but she felt that something was missing. As she went to clean up the kitchen, she realized she had not put the squash in the casserole. It was good, but it was not what it was intended to be. It was missing a key ingredient. Just like my grandmother’s recipe, there are ingredients that make up worship. If any of these are missing, it is not the real thing.

I think the first ingredient is praise. We can have praise for something without worshiping. But we cannot worship without praising. For example, Steve Jobs was a brilliant individual. I have a high regard for what he accomplished at Apple. But I don’t praise or worship him. Worship is praise carried to infinity. Our worship is unending. Only God is worthy of that worship, but do we praise Him as He deserves?  

The second ingredient is honor. The dictionary defines honor as “high respect or esteem.” We tend to honor people for their accomplishments. Excellent students are referred to as honor students, we honor someone for a great achievement or action. And there is nothing wrong with honoring deserving individuals or groups. But we must honor God, as we cannot worship that which we do not honor.

Passion or mystery is the third ingredient in worship. Passion is described as a “strong and barely controllable emotion.” When we have a Godly passion our human minds cannot comprehend the fullness of God. In relation to God, our passion should be infinite. If we are not passionate about God, if He doesn’t evoke a sense of awe and wonder we cannot worship Him.

Love or adoration is the fourth ingredient. We cannot worship if we don’t love. Adoration is deep love or respect, love taken to the highest level. When we are “in love” our love should be growing. A frequent saying on Valentine’s Day cards goes something like “I love you more today than yesterday, and less than I will tomorrow.” We love God with everything that is within us as it grows daily. 

Worship cannot be half-hearted. I can remember many times in my life when I looked around at the assembled congregation in a church and felt “I hope this is not what Heaven is. They all sound so bored and even apathetic.”  To combine a couple of current expressions we must be “all in” and “all the time” in our worship.”  Our lives, fully immersed in the glory and wonder of God. In Matthew 22, Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment. His reply “You shall  love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”   When this happens, you can experience worship.  As individual believers and as a church, we need to regain a vision of the Most High God.

Are any of these ingredients missing in your worship? How do you view God? Does your worship change you?

There is no doubt that we are creatures of habit. We get into a routine, maybe even a rut and we continue along that path. But sometimes we want to get out of that rut and make improvements or changes in our lives. Unfortunately, we generally do not do well in this regard. We make New Year’s Resolutions about what we want to change in our lives, maybe in the form of goals for what we wish to accomplish during the new year. Before long we usually fall back into our old habits.

I am not a big fan of New Year’s Resolutions. I believe that if I see something in my life that needs changing, why wait until January 1 to start implementing those changes? If you do a Google search on New Year’s Resolutions, you will find list after list of suggested resolutions. I don’t like these lists. While they may be somewhat helpful in identifying some areas needing improvement, I think that I (or a close friend or relative) know better than anyone else where I need to make improvements. 

There are keys to helping you achieve your goals. I would offer five important steps in regard to achieving resolutions

1. Plan – Make your resolutions specific and have a plan on how to achieve the goal.
2. Limit – Don’t try to tackle too much change. Too much, and you might get overwhelmed and do a “crash and burn.” Maybe undertake one goal at a time. Add more goals as you progress. You don’t have to finish one before starting another. 
3. Accountability – Have an accountability partner who will help keep you on track. It also helps to keep a journal to see how far you have come.
4. Process – Remember that achieving a goal is a process, it won’t happen overnight. If weight loss, for example, is your goal, it took time to put on the extra weight, It will take time to lose it.
5. Adapt – Don’t be so rigid that you don’t make adjustments to the goals when necessary. This will entail a periodic review of how you are progressing toward your goal.

Part of developing habits is to become more proficient at a task. Being regular in the habits of life is a good quality to establish. If you want to run a 10K road race, you will need to train, to regularly hit the roads so you can run the distance and run well. If you are trying to lose weight, it is not something you can casually pursue. You must be faithful in your diet and exercise routine to improve your health and well-being. Habits can be good or bad. It is good that I exercise, to keep my body healthy. However, a drug habit can be destructive. 

But good habits are for more than our earthly existence. I Timothy 4:8 tells us “for bodily training is just slightly beneficial, but godliness is beneficial for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”

The habits of a holy life is one area in which Christians should become a regular part of their lives. This world, and our lives are made for regularity. There is a growing season for crops. Birds fly south in the fall. We can predict the tides, the rising and the setting of the sun. June – November is hurricane season in Florida. 

Regularity in the habits of the holy life should be cultivated. Bible study, prayer, giving, and church attendance are all a part of learning from the Holy Spirit how to be dependable, faithful, unselfish, and Christlike. 

I remember vividly the events of September 11, 2001. I was in my office at school, preparing for a class when I began seeing news reports of the attack. As a result of that event, many people prayed and attended church. Alas, the newfound religiosity was short-lived for many as most returned to their previous habits. With the help of the Holy Spirit our lives can become holy (wholly) regular. 

In reading the Old Testament, one can readily see how regularity is ordained by God. There are detailed procedures for the priests in the temple. Even the Genesis account of the Creation indicates that God’s creation was brought about in an orderly manner. I Corinthians 14:40 reads “Let all things be done decently and in order.” God obviously gives great value to order and regularity. 

Why not make time to evaluate your habits, especially Holy Habits.

Bear with me for a few minutes of speculation.  Imagine that you know nothing about God. Spiritual things are not a part of your life. Suppose someone told you that the God of the Universe left His exalted position and became human. Why would He do something so radical? When we view it from a human standpoint, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It sounds unreasonable.

First, we need to accept the proposition that God is Love. John 4:8 states that very thing. Not that God loves (which He does) but God IS love, personified. Once we have come to terms with that though we can look a little further at John 4:8, which reads “The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. Love is who God is. I often engage in the practice of describing something or someone in one word. As I write this, former President Jimmy Carter is dying, in hospice care. To describe him in one word, I would call him “humble.”  I would describe my wife as “loving,” but she is not love. Ricky Henderson holds the Major League record for stolen bases. Upon breaking Lou Brock’s record, Henderson lifted third base above his head, strutting around and saying “Lou Brock was a great base stealer, but today, I am the greatest of all-time,” while Brock stood just feet from Henderson. The one word I associate with Henderson is “arrogance.” Love is the word that describes God. All He does is based on the fact that God is Love. We may not always see it but be assured that God wants the best for each of us, which is why we don’t get everything we ask God for. Many times, in my prayers, I have petitioned God for my desires. He hasn’t always given me what I want. But, in retrospect, I see His infinite wisdom with withholding those requests and giving me something better. 

Secondly, look at the rest of John 4:8. It says if we do not love, we do not know God. An old saying once went “No God, No Love. Know God, Know Love.” Perhaps this explains why there is so much hatred in the world – stemming from non-Christians and so-called Christians. What does love look like? Saint Augustine once described what he thought love looked like “It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men.” Love, on a human level, has been described as having the characteristics of communication, affection, trust, appreciation, and mutual respect. These are all good qualities but Godly love goes further.

Third, we need to return to the proposition that God became human. On the surface, that sounds preposterous. Unreasonable, even. Not only did He take the form of a human, he lived among us, showing us the Way. It cost his life. Jesus, Son of God died on a cruel cross to save us from our sins. God’s love is unreasonable from a human standpoint. But viewed from the wisdom of a loving God, it was perfectly reasonable. We are incapable of saving ourselves. He died to give us the gift of life with Him in eternity. Such sacrifice deserves our full allegiance.

In Matthew, Jesus told a parable about a servant who owed a large debt to his master. When the servant pleaded with the master, the master forgave the debt. Then the servant went out and accosted a fellow servant who owed him much less. The master delivered the first servant to the jailers, saying “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” We are the first servant who has been forgiven a debt so large we could never repay it. Our response should be one of love and forgiveness to our fellow debtors.

Lady Julian from the 1300’s stated “Out of His goodness, God made us. Out of his goodness, He keeps us. When man had sinned, He redeemed us again out of his goodness. Then do you not suppose that God will give His children the best of everything out of His goodness?” He loves us so unreasonably, we must respond in kind. Hallelujah! What a loving God we serve!