Matthew 22:34-40
Our church, starting today, has begun a daily journey that will take us through July in an exploration of worship. Our goal: Becoming true worshipers of God, since such is what the Father seeks. For several weeks, my devotional time has been seeking to read the Gospels and view Jesus through the lens of the Kingdom life. Now, I will change my contacts for several weeks in order to view Jesus through the lens of worship. Is there any better man to learn about worship from?
It's easy to focus on the wrong things with this subject, and any lens other than Jesus takes us off subject. Music is not the lens. Preaching is not the lens. Physicality is not the lens. Jesus is the lens to focus our lives on worship. I believe that was Jesus' point (and my conclusion yesterday) in John 4:25-26.
I went to the optometrist last Thursday to renew my contact prescription. I have a slight astigmatism that slightly changes my prescription now and then. I also have a hard time finding contacts that don't drive me nuts. Despite the pain of always having dry eyes, I hate wearing glasses so much that I endure it. Anyway, the Doc wanted me to try out two different pairs of contacts to see which feel most comfortable. So, since Thursday I have worn two different kinds of contacts--one in each eye. The problem is that in one brand, the Doc didn't quite have the right prescription--close, but not correct. So, since Thursday my eyesight has been a little weird--out of focus. Rather than focusing on the object in front of me, you know what I've been focused on? I've focused on the fact that I'm not focused!
I believe, given certain things I've heard from people or through the rumor mill, that there are many of us who are focused on not being focused. It's easy to focus on the periphery. It's easy to, in the state of religiosity, not focus on the essentials of worship and lose sight. When that happens, our spiritual lives feel out of gas. There's no longer that, that, you know, spiritual drive. We blame it on a lot of things. I'm praying that these next two months we'll get refocused on Jesus and worshiping the Father through Him.
OK, back to our passage...
Jesus teaches about worship. He's dealing with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Tomorrow we will see Him apply this very personally to the Pharisees and we'll see how in their fervor of religious ritual they were not actually loving God, despite thinking they did.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Take EVERYTHING in your life. Do you love God more?
Love your neighbor as yourself. Do you require of those around you, or do you inquire? Do you merely recieve from those around you or do you reciprocate?
With Jesus as our lens to learn about worship, we find here that worship is not just a scheduled act of ritual, but a LIFE LIVED in vertical exaltation of God evidenced by horizontal exaltation of others. We'll see better examples and explanation of this tomorrow in chapter 23.
Loving God and Loving People--that's the life of a true worshiper.
