"The Heart of Worship"

  At the heart of the Israelite encampment was this "house of worship." It was a tabernacle prepared by God calling the people upward to Him as their sustainer and care provider. When freedom came to this people by the mighty hand of God, they built the tabernacle and established the priesthood as God commanded.

  This place of worship was not a small thing and is not blinked at in just a few verses of Scripture. There are thirteen whole chapters in Exodus alone dealing with it! There is only a couple of verses dealing with the golden calf and the people calling that their god. What a comparison! What does that speak to us?

  Who and how we worship not only reveals our inner being, our state of heart, it shapes our inner being. Worshipers bear witness to the existence of a world beyond their senses. Our worship and how we go about it reveals our knowledge and insight of the Lord of heaven and earth. Just read I Cor. 14 and it doesn't take long to see that the way one worships, how they go about the things they do, reveal what insight or lack of insight they have of God. All healthy worship has at its heart a sense of awe and reverence in the presence of the God who purchased them. All healthy worship acknowledges the Lord God is greater than we, the created, and the heart is moved to glorifying His Majesty, not us! All healthy worship has central a dependence that we aren't self-made or self-maintained and we owe our blessings to our Savior and Creator. All healthy worship is humble, never exalting us, the redeemed but only the Redeemer.

  Our worship should call us together as one body. In that body worship, God is not our "buddy" or "pal". He's not like us! I read one time where someone said about worship: "It's only infants who tug on the dress of a queen or pull the spectacles off a king." I can't remember where I heard that or I would give credit but that's the point about God, isn't it? Too many approach God so freely, so infantile they have no clue what they are doing. All healthy worship strengthens our trust in the Lord whom we can't see with our eyes. The humble heart, the reverent atmosphere shows we recognize the reality of the Eternal One.

  When those redeemed gather together as the "house of worship" its His truth that is sought and maintained. We together express our oneness with our Lord and one another. It's more than offering up our personal worship in the presence of others but it is the worship of the people which expresses something that a lone individual cannot express!! The Supper speaks that in great magnitude. How do you approach worship?