Welcome to the new night of The Mindful Minute. Whether you are a new reader or you’ve been with me for awhile, I want to welcome you to the new night of my blog.  Monday night was a staple for years, but thanks to the hectic schedule of life, Saturday evenings won the day. I told my wife that its almost like I’ve been given a new time slot on TV.  Its that concept that brings me to my point tonight.

In thinking about tonight, I have been caught up with the idea of worship, well, since I returned from the Passion Conference in Atlanta earlier this month. The idea that we, as Christians, have lost the meaning of true worship and the fear that we have actually forgotten how to worship truly concerns me and makes me quite nervous for the direction the church is headed.  Tomorrow morning, many of us will get up and a head to church. This is routine, the same routine each & every Sunday morning. Many of us, though this number is steadily declining, revolve our day around this very time slot in our lives- much like we center our lives around a time slot for our favorite TV show. Now, if I were to see you at McDonald’s getting breakfast and asked you where you were going, you would likely reply with a very familiar phrase that most of us use. You would tell me that you “are going to worship.” Now, not all of us use that expression, it is certainly more common among older Christians, but I do not want to get hung up on merely the words here. What I want to highlight is the attitude behind those words; because whether we use the phrase or not, I fear that the attitudes of our hearts have adopted this very concept- a concept that treats worship as a destination and not a complete and total surrender of your heart to give God all the praise, honor, and glory that He deserves.

One of the biggest complaints that I hear out of churchgoers is that church is so boring; and this is NOT just the teenagers or children. This encompasses the greatest problem that  we have as people who call Christ our Savior. Since when did it become God’s job to entertain us each and every Sunday? How dare we stroll to our “assigned” pews each week, sit back, and effectively say to God, “Alright, here I am God…Entertain me!”  When did we lose sight of what the true nature of worship is? It is littered all through the Bible. An instance that comes to mind is in Romans Chapter 11. Paul is giving his instructions to the church in Rome and talking about the fact that Israel is not completely lost, when all of a sudden at the end of the chapter, he breaks out into this hymn of praise, as if he suddenly realized the magnificence of God and he absolutely HAD to stop and worship Him at that very moment.  THAT is what worship is about. It is a complete surrender of who you are to the awesomeness of who He is.  So, if we call Him Lord, if we understand His majesty, and if we can grasp even an ounce of the Glory of God, how in the world can we be bored? I believe the answer lies in a passage found in 2 Corinthians 9:6-8.  This passage is often used by pastors to reference tithing, but this is not a tithing exclusive passage. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 says this:

“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully^[ will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

Whether its tithing, giving of your talents, giving your time, or what you put into worship; the person who sows abundantly will reap abundantly. The person who sows sparingly, will reap sparingly.

So, tonight, as I wrap up this edition, I ask you this- what are you putting into your worship? Are you worshiping abundantly? Are you surrendering your heart and life in abundance to God? He deserves everything we have and everything we are. Or, are we entering His presence with the attitude- here I am…entertain me? God doesn’t need our worship, He deserves our worship. Is our worship worthy of the God we were made to praise? Is our worship a reflection of life lived to serve and honor God? And speaking of a life lived, what does your worship look like on a Tuesday afternoon at work or a Friday evening at a ball game? Does it look the same as your worship at church,  a big time conference, or concert? Is worship an act of complete surrender or just a destination for you on Sunday morning.  Tonight I leave you with this quote from A.W. Tozer:

“I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.”

In Christ Alone,

Rev. Bro. Coach