...Now, please don't misunderstand me. I'm not talking about self-worship, nor am I suggesting that we start singing "It's all about me" in our worship sets. But human nature tends to gravitate towards extremes. We think that there must not even be a trace of self in our worship to the Lord. But I'm dying to know...how does the Lord feel about me? Am I moving His heart? Does He look at me with approving glances? Does He think I'm worth it? He loves me, but does He like me?
I confess that I often feel like a kid fishing for complements from my mom and dad. Like I'm the one that just picked up a 5 pound weight and trying to get dad to see my strength. The grown-up in me would say that I'm weak, but the child in me would expect that I'm strong. And something tells me that my Father, who could bench press the world a million times over, would still be proud of what strength I have.
I suppose this is a little bit of what it means to have a child-like heart. If I have the heart of a grown-up, then my using all my strength to lift five pounds of spiritual progress causes me to want to give up and refuse any praise that my Father would attempt to give me. After all, He benches the world. But if I have a child-like heart, I'm pretty pleased in pleasing my Father, and I'm not thinking about how I could do more and how He is infinitely stronger than I'll ever be. No, when I would think of His infinite strength, I would think that it is to protect and hold me, not to be a reminder that I'm not as strong as He is.
I'm thinking about my Daddy lifts weights, so I will lift weights; not my Daddy lifts a billion pounds, so I will lift a billion pounds. I will, with all of my might, no matter how weak that is, love Him.
By the way, I'm not talking about being immature spiritually, nor being content with being immature. It's more like what C.S. Lewis once said, that God wants a child-like heart, but a grown-ups head.
A grown-up heart is like what Kaylee, a student in Victory School of Ministry, said in her psalm of praise to the Lord: "I was a child dying of old age..."
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
The Exchange of Love, Pt. 1
These next several blogs will be a continuous train of thought separated by days but not flow, like pieces of a puzzle given one at a time that will produce a clear picture by the end. My hope and prayer is that these stir you to greater love...
Someone asked me the other day, "Have you ever noticed that a lot of worship songs are about us?" And I have on many occasions noticed this. You don't have to look very far in worship songs to find a whole bunch of "I's, We's, and Me's" laced throughout. And honestly, until recently, I used to think that singing too many of those songs was like our worship bouncing of the ceiling and headed right back our direction.
But I don't think of it that way anymore.
In my observation, much of the Church as a whole has offered one-sided love to the Lord and doesn't expect Him to return our love. It's like you going out on a date, doing all the talking without allowing for a response, and leaving that night feeling frustrated because you showed all of this love, all of this pursuit, and yet feel unloved. But you feel unloved because you don't allow for that person to tell you how they feel. It was all about your effort. No one could last in that kind of function.
Here is the thing many of us miss: we love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). That means that our capacity to love God is directly linked to our revelation of God's love for us. The more we recognize God's love being poured out on us, the more we pour out in return to Him; a beautiful cycle of love that grows in intensity and capacity with every rotation.
"He is jealous for me..."
These words get me thinking and meditating on His love. I open up my heart to His mad love that He pours out, and it ignites the fire of love the propels me to respond. If I don't hear continuously that He loves me, I will believe another voice, because my heart and mind must believe something even if it is a lie -- and so does yours…
Someone asked me the other day, "Have you ever noticed that a lot of worship songs are about us?" And I have on many occasions noticed this. You don't have to look very far in worship songs to find a whole bunch of "I's, We's, and Me's" laced throughout. And honestly, until recently, I used to think that singing too many of those songs was like our worship bouncing of the ceiling and headed right back our direction.
But I don't think of it that way anymore.
In my observation, much of the Church as a whole has offered one-sided love to the Lord and doesn't expect Him to return our love. It's like you going out on a date, doing all the talking without allowing for a response, and leaving that night feeling frustrated because you showed all of this love, all of this pursuit, and yet feel unloved. But you feel unloved because you don't allow for that person to tell you how they feel. It was all about your effort. No one could last in that kind of function.
Here is the thing many of us miss: we love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). That means that our capacity to love God is directly linked to our revelation of God's love for us. The more we recognize God's love being poured out on us, the more we pour out in return to Him; a beautiful cycle of love that grows in intensity and capacity with every rotation.
"He is jealous for me..."
These words get me thinking and meditating on His love. I open up my heart to His mad love that He pours out, and it ignites the fire of love the propels me to respond. If I don't hear continuously that He loves me, I will believe another voice, because my heart and mind must believe something even if it is a lie -- and so does yours…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
