The Apostle John records the event of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus asks her to draw water for him. This begins a dialogue about water, living water, the Messiah and what correct worship consists of. The woman asks about the place and the manner of worship. Jesus answers her not about the place and manner but about the heart of worship.
… true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24 NLT)
The idea that there are those who worship in ‘spirit and in truth’ exposes the reality that there are those who worship but not in ‘sprit and in truth.’ The ‘Father is looking for those who would worship Him in that way’ because there are those who would NOT worship in that way.
Thousands of years ago, King David declared: "How great You are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like You. We have never even heard of another God like You! (2 Samuel 7:22 NLT)
That is worship in ‘spirit and truth.’ That is the kind of worship that the Father is looking for. Worship in ‘spirit and truth’ is worship that recognizes, affirms, proclaims and surrenders to the bigness of God. Worship in ‘spirit and truth’ is worship that recognizes, affirms, proclaims and lives in the reality of the smallness of man.
Bible teacher Louie Giglio puts worship in ‘spirit and truth’ in perspective with this statement:
God is looking for men and women who are willing to be small because they know how big he is---and understand who they are not!
Harry Fosdick writes: God is not a cosmic bellboy for whom we can press a button to get things done.
God is not a ‘cosmic bellboy.’ There is no one like Him. There is no one so awesome, so immense, so potent, so imaginative, so magnificent and so all encompassing. There is no one so caring, so involved, so loving and so sacrificing as the One who came to this earth to free mankind from the plague of sin, shame and death.
Father, teach us to worship in ‘spirit and truth.’ Amen
Monday, October 31, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Spiritual Cholesterol
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. (Proverbs 4:23 NLT)
We have been constantly reminded over the last decade about cholesterol. There are warnings about cholesterol numbers and getting cholesterol checked at physical time. We've heard about diet; the foods that raise cholesterol and foods that lower it. We have heard volumes about how exercise can lower the numbers.
When too much 'bad' cholesterol is circulating in the blood stream, it can clog the arteries and lead to significant impact, and ultimately lead to heart disease. There are no symptoms of high cholesterol, only symptoms caused by the damage it is doing to the body.
There are common emotional reactions that, if left unchecked, will act spiritually just like cholesterol and damage a person's spiritual circulatory system. Fear, sorrow, anger, hurt, worry are some of the common emotions that each of us experience. Theses emotions have beneficial uses. Life could be difficult and at times confusing without them.
When there is too much of these emotions, there can be clogging of the spiritual arteries. Too much of each of these can actually bring about emotional paralysis.
Solomon's advice to 'guard your heart above all else' was not about cholesterol. His admonition was about spiritual cholesterol. It was about guarding against emotions run amuck. His warning was about fear that becomes chronic, sorrow that becomes depression, unchecked anger that becomes rage, hurts that without forgiveness become bitterness, and worry that can become paranoia.
The fruit of the Holy Spirit is 'high cholesterol' medicine. The Holy Spirit wants to grow love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control in us. These fruits combat high 'spiritual cholesterol.'
Holy Spirit, grow your fruit in us. Combat the high spiritual cholesterol in us that clogs our spiritual circulatory system. Amen.
We have been constantly reminded over the last decade about cholesterol. There are warnings about cholesterol numbers and getting cholesterol checked at physical time. We've heard about diet; the foods that raise cholesterol and foods that lower it. We have heard volumes about how exercise can lower the numbers.
When too much 'bad' cholesterol is circulating in the blood stream, it can clog the arteries and lead to significant impact, and ultimately lead to heart disease. There are no symptoms of high cholesterol, only symptoms caused by the damage it is doing to the body.
There are common emotional reactions that, if left unchecked, will act spiritually just like cholesterol and damage a person's spiritual circulatory system. Fear, sorrow, anger, hurt, worry are some of the common emotions that each of us experience. Theses emotions have beneficial uses. Life could be difficult and at times confusing without them.
When there is too much of these emotions, there can be clogging of the spiritual arteries. Too much of each of these can actually bring about emotional paralysis.
Solomon's advice to 'guard your heart above all else' was not about cholesterol. His admonition was about spiritual cholesterol. It was about guarding against emotions run amuck. His warning was about fear that becomes chronic, sorrow that becomes depression, unchecked anger that becomes rage, hurts that without forgiveness become bitterness, and worry that can become paranoia.
The fruit of the Holy Spirit is 'high cholesterol' medicine. The Holy Spirit wants to grow love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control in us. These fruits combat high 'spiritual cholesterol.'
Holy Spirit, grow your fruit in us. Combat the high spiritual cholesterol in us that clogs our spiritual circulatory system. Amen.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Guard the constructive. Guard against the destructive.
People often think of the past as a less complicated, simpler way of life. Schedules were much less complicated, if they even existed at all. Economy was built on needs and bartering, not wants. Transportation was so simple, and yet difficult, at the same time. Moving around was so difficult that people for the most part simply didn’t travel. Technology as we know it - radio, TV, Internet and iEverything - just didn’t exist.
Almost 3000 years ago King Solomon wrote: Guard your heart more than anything else, because the source of your life flows from it. (Proverbs 4:23 GW) Guard your heart from what? Not TV. Not the News. Not movies, Internet or iThings. None of that existed. So what was a person to guard from ‘more than anything else?’
Solomon was coaching his son to guard his heart from things that are much more rudimentary. He was coaching his son to guard his attitudes and thoughts. Attitudes and thoughts become driving forces in a person’s life. Attitudes and thoughts, over time either become constructive or destructive. They either build a person or they destroy a person. They either build relationships or they destroy relationships.
He was coaching people to guard against greed, lust, bitterness, anger, jealousy, cynicism and criticism. These attitudes become the driving force in life. He was also coaching people to guard integrity, honesty, humility, kindness, forgiveness, and gratefulness. Guard the constructive. Guard against the destructive.
Paul talked about attitudes in what is called ‘The Love Chapter.’ Here are the attitudes he writes about - Love is: kind, patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude, isn't selfish, quick tempered, doesn't keep a record of wrongs that others do, love rejoices in the truth, is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting. (1 Cor.13:4ff)
What constructive attitude do you need to guard today? What destructive attitude do you need to guard against today?
Almost 3000 years ago King Solomon wrote: Guard your heart more than anything else, because the source of your life flows from it. (Proverbs 4:23 GW) Guard your heart from what? Not TV. Not the News. Not movies, Internet or iThings. None of that existed. So what was a person to guard from ‘more than anything else?’
Solomon was coaching his son to guard his heart from things that are much more rudimentary. He was coaching his son to guard his attitudes and thoughts. Attitudes and thoughts become driving forces in a person’s life. Attitudes and thoughts, over time either become constructive or destructive. They either build a person or they destroy a person. They either build relationships or they destroy relationships.
He was coaching people to guard against greed, lust, bitterness, anger, jealousy, cynicism and criticism. These attitudes become the driving force in life. He was also coaching people to guard integrity, honesty, humility, kindness, forgiveness, and gratefulness. Guard the constructive. Guard against the destructive.
Paul talked about attitudes in what is called ‘The Love Chapter.’ Here are the attitudes he writes about - Love is: kind, patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude, isn't selfish, quick tempered, doesn't keep a record of wrongs that others do, love rejoices in the truth, is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting. (1 Cor.13:4ff)
What constructive attitude do you need to guard today? What destructive attitude do you need to guard against today?
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Guard Your Heart
More is known about the human heart today than during any other time period in history. There may be more that has been discovered about the heart in the last 50 years than was known in all of the other centuries combined!
Doctors and researchers know how the heart functions, what clogs the heart up, what medicines can be used to help a heart that is beating irregularly, how to hook up a pacemaker that keeps the heart beating at the correct rate, how to install an internal defibrillator to restart the heart instantly when something goes wrong, how to do by-pass surgery and heart transplants. Is there anything that medical science can’t do for the human heart? Yes!
All of the procedures mentioned above have complications and side effects. Most of the procedures require constant monitoring, tweaking and follow-up. They are not permanent solutions. Transplant recipients are relegated to a life on immunosuppressive drugs to keep their body from rejecting the transplant.
Wouldn’t it be nice if a person’s spiritual, emotional and psychological heart could be fixed in the same way? Life would be so different if we could take a pill, have a bypass or have a transplant. If solving ‘heart problems’ happened that simply, we would never have to ‘guard our hearts.’
Solomon wrote: Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. (Proverbs 4:23 NLT)
The Message Bible says it this way: Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that's where life starts.
How many times have we heard that we need to watch what we eat, watch our salt intake, exercise, etc? All of these have a direct impact on the heart. Medical Science would say: Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life!
Guard your heart above all else! Guard what your heart thinks about, the assumptions it makes, what is allowed access, what your heart feels, judgments that are made, worries, perceptions, etc. The list could literally go on and on. Guard your heart above all else – your life depends on it!
Doctors and researchers know how the heart functions, what clogs the heart up, what medicines can be used to help a heart that is beating irregularly, how to hook up a pacemaker that keeps the heart beating at the correct rate, how to install an internal defibrillator to restart the heart instantly when something goes wrong, how to do by-pass surgery and heart transplants. Is there anything that medical science can’t do for the human heart? Yes!
All of the procedures mentioned above have complications and side effects. Most of the procedures require constant monitoring, tweaking and follow-up. They are not permanent solutions. Transplant recipients are relegated to a life on immunosuppressive drugs to keep their body from rejecting the transplant.
Wouldn’t it be nice if a person’s spiritual, emotional and psychological heart could be fixed in the same way? Life would be so different if we could take a pill, have a bypass or have a transplant. If solving ‘heart problems’ happened that simply, we would never have to ‘guard our hearts.’
Solomon wrote: Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. (Proverbs 4:23 NLT)
The Message Bible says it this way: Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that's where life starts.
How many times have we heard that we need to watch what we eat, watch our salt intake, exercise, etc? All of these have a direct impact on the heart. Medical Science would say: Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life!
Guard your heart above all else! Guard what your heart thinks about, the assumptions it makes, what is allowed access, what your heart feels, judgments that are made, worries, perceptions, etc. The list could literally go on and on. Guard your heart above all else – your life depends on it!
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