Lent Devotion: Worship, Day Three

Joshua 24 (NIV) ¹⁵ But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

We often walk away from worship with the question, “What did I get out of it?” That’s a good question to consider. We need to examine if we are giving the attention necessary to move forward in faith and whether the church is providing us what we need for the journey. If worship doesn’t stir our souls and feed our spiritual needs, we won’t get far.

Worship, however, is not really about us. Worship is like a play. When we go to the theatre we are the audience. The job of the actors is to play for us. If they do their job, we will come away feeling entertained and possibly even inspired. The same is true in worship, but we are not the audience. The central focus of worship is God. We are the actors. God is the audience.

Worship is as much about attitude as activity. We can show up, stand up, sit down, shake hands, sign-in, make an offering, smile as we leave, and count ourselves successful. We’ve accomplished the activities of worship, but the attitude of our hearts is what God sees. God is the audience of one who notices whether or not you are actually engaged in celebrating God’s presence in the theatre.

Pay attention to how you think and feel. As you sing, let the words become your conversation with God. As you listen to the message, open your heart to what God is saying through the words. As you watch the images look for the way God is revealed. As you greet the person next to you, recognize the presence of God in that individual.