Recently I have been thinking a lot about worship and not only what it means to me but just how other people worship. I have seen some people sit silently, some people dance, some people sing, and some people just stand with their arms folded and not a word comes out of their mouth the whole time. One thing that really gets to me though is when people only raise their hands at an emotional part of a song. There is nothing wrong with it but when a hundred pairs of hands go up at the same time it seems almost scripted. I might be alone or just plain dumb but it seems somewhat fake to me. I know that God displays his power and glory in awesome ways but I just feel something is wrong with the way we worship when it comes to this. I have no problem whatsoever with people raising hands, I just feel it should not just be done when it comes to a part of a song you like or when it comes to the most uplifting part of the song. Yes, raising your hands can be a testament to what you believe and you are reasserting the fact that you agree with the song or that it moves you but I guess I just am not too sure how to tackle this issue. Maybe I need to pray about it more or maybe I just need to let it go and stop being so judgmental. I just feel God has been laying this on my heart and that we need to be more genuine in our worship with him rather than just doing it to put on a show for HIM... I do not think people generally think people put on a show for others, but rather for God so that they can feel good about themselves. Reggie Dabbs put it perfect in a sermon here at NCU awhile back when he said, "How can you be crying and wailing and then all of the sudden in one moment go to laughing? It's because your crying and your wailing wasn't real. You are a pretender. You are a fake. You just there crying and wailing because everybody else is. You can't be a part of this because of everybody else is, you gotta be called by God." How powerful of a statement to say to students who go through everyday in chapel and some of them never reflect on what they just heard which means they just leave God's presence without letting him speak to them. Reggie had a valid point and I think we should all take note of the message he was trying to get across.
One of my textbooks says, "Service as a substitute for worship is idolatry. Activity is the enemy of adoration." We must not get caught up in just the ritual part of worship but we should dive into genuine worship with our creator who deserves our praise whether we feel like giving it to him or not. We cannot stand around as our generation dies around us. We have to seek God and his will through worship which means meditation, prayer, service, and so much more. Why would a professor curse to make a point in class that people care more about his words, then they do a country in need? Partly because he has a point, but why can we not just wake up this generation and see that there is a genuine need. We do not need to be extreme, we need God to take ahold of our lives and transform all of us. I heard today that the Christian church should be worried about what they may face in the next 15-20 years and it is not good. However, I will be darned if I am going to stand around and let it happen. If we are afraid of what the government will do in the next 2 decades, why do we not step up and make the change as a church. We still have a voice in this country and we can either die with the passing day or we can take a stand by letting God move us in worship and understanding so that his will can be played out for this country. Too often we just believe that America is a lost cause and we should pretty much think about going underground. Excuse me, but we came over the sea to get away from that because we wanted freedom. The reason the church has lost it's hold on the country and the church is at fault. You can't blame the devil because God turned nations/cities upside down in the Bible because the apostles would not stand for what was going on. If we believe the Bible to be true (and we should as Christians), then we should live with the premise that God can empower us to turn this country back to him, but it all starts with the church.
I hope you are all doing well, that is enough for tonight. I could probably go for hours.
God Bless,
Joseph Robinson
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