OUCH!!!!

I was reading in Revelation this morning and there was a verse in chapter 2 that really stood out. Jesus is talking to the church at Ephesus and he says, "Hey you guys are following the rules, I know what you have been doing, all the hard work, all the stuff you have put up with and how you have made sure that evil stays out and the work for my name goes on; and you have not even grown weary." APPLAUSE HERE!!!!!! This is kinda where I can see everybody doing high fives saying "yeah we got it all together!"
Then the bomb of reality is dropped, "But I have this one thing against you, you have left your first love." OUCH!!!! It hit me like a ton of bricks, because that is what we do so often. We get all caught up in the Christian agenda of do this, do that, pray here, sing here, etc, all that stuff is great. However, we leave our first love, we leave the realization of what God has done for us through His son Jesus.
Recently I was out of town for a week. I thought of my wife and child often and even called several times the first few days, but as the week went on I became caught up with everything that had to be done, meetings, general sessions, concerts. It was a great week and I learned a lot. However when I stepped off that plane in Charlotte and began my descent down the escalator, there she was my wife, my companion, my best friend. It was at that moment that I knew I was returning to my love.
I truly believe that if we are not careful we can get so caught up in the agenda of the Christian life that we forget our first love. How sad it would be to reach the end of life and realize that although the things we did were good, we ultimately missed the best... (Revelation 2:1-5)

More Than A Song!!

I was reading the other day out of one of my new favorite books called "The Worship Answer Book" by Rick Muchow, and I was struck by something. A passage out of Isaiah 29 that says "These people come near me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from m. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. " (Isaiah 29:13)- GOD I was totally blown away by that statement. I have read that passage and heard that passage many times, however recently I have been very struck by the fact of a lot of Christians are just giving lip service to God.
There is always going to be a battle between is it the new songs we sing or the old songs we sing. The thing about it is what is "new" today will be old tomorrow. So, there really is no relevance in whether the songs are new or old. Honestly it has very little to do with the songs altogether. Worship is about so much more than music. Worship is about expression of our love to God. So, I'm worshipping if I am singing, praying, confessing, thanking, giving, testifying I think you get the picture.
I just couldn't help but wonder what would happen if we put aside our half hearted, self seeking, self indulging, self honoring, me worship and honestly said "Lord I love you and I am grateful to you for all that you are and the fact that your love is steadfast and unchanging."

The words of the song are so true... "I bring you more than a song, for a song in itself is not what you have required. You search much deeper within to the way things appear, your looking into my heart. I'm coming back to the heart of worship, when its all about you, its all about you Jesus. I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it, when its all about you, its all about you Jesus."

There have been so many times in my life that I have had to come back to the heart of worship and realize that it is not about me it is all about Him.

A Day At The Park.........
There is nothing any sweeter than the sound of child laughing. I would even go another step and say when you hear your own child laughing it just does somethng in your heart.
The other day Solly (Solomon) and I went to a local park and he experienced the swings for the first time. As I watched him go back and forth giggling with excitement each time, I couldn't help but think what joy God gets when He hears His kids laugh. Have you laughed today? When is the last time you laughed?

What is Worship?