By Carl Diener
There is a level of worship that the church seldom reaches. You can’t really plan it or program it into your schedule. It’s a lot like the upper room thing. Jesus said to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit was given. He did not say what building, or for how long to wait. It isn’t something that fits very well with the plans of man. With God, it is always a matter of the heart. After ten days, only the genuinely desperate were still waiting in that upper room.
There are a bunch of us now that have seen what the “matches of man can do, and we want the lightning of God.” We want to go deeper than the shallowness of four or five worship songs, a good sermon, and out the door, we go. We want something deeper. We want or heart to reach that place of more than worship. We want it to shift into a place of adoration.
In old testament times, they would plate an idol with gold since that is what man thinks he wants. This man has never seen so much gold in one place. He thinks about the incredible value of that idol in gold alone.
We don’t think that way, or we shouldn’t anyway. Our hearts turn to the God that loves us, and we think of the “incredible value” of that love that gave his only son for us. A love that turns its eyes toward us, whether we are awake or asleep. Oh! This love that thinks thoughts about us in higher amounts than grains of sand on the seashore.
I am not sure how it works. However, I think it starts with a reflection of this vast unfathomable love for us and that God will meet us just as surely as he filled those people in that upper room.
So, where is a biblical example of this worship that reaches the stage of adoration? We read in the gospel of Luke that Jesus and His disciples were invited to a Pharisee’s house for a meal. The disciples, I could imagine, were quite excited about it. Finally, their Master’s ministry was getting some due recognition. However, at some point, an embarrassing situation takes place. A woman bursts in to see Jesus, and she falls on her knees and begins weeping. So overcome with emotion, her tears are enough to wash his feet, and she wipes them with her hair. Imagine for a moment how uncomfortable this scene is. To top it all off, the pharisee is smiling smugly and thinking to himself if Jesus knew what kind of woman she was, he would kick her away.
Jesus turned to the man and rebuked him, saying, “you gave me no kiss, nor did you gave me water to wash my feet, but this woman has washed my feet with her tears and never ceases to kiss them…”
Jesus spoke of the deep love this woman had, a saving love that transcends sin. This love was offered to Him. That woman was honored in the sight of God.
This was an uncomfortable moment of adoration in the sight of all who looked on – except with our Lord. This woman’s actions proved to be an exceptional offering to God so that it was recorded in Luke’s Gospel of Jesus Christ. This story will last throughout eternity.
May we reach such a place of adoration of Him in our hearts. May we no longer care what man thinks, but only care what Jesus thinks. We are forgiven of so much. Let us love much.
« More posts