Meditations on Spiritual Worship

Being filled with the Holy Spirit is more than just an emotional experience. Worship is more than just a song that we sing in our closet or in public. The Gospel is more than just fire insurance or the promise of a fulfilling life experience here on earth. And Jesus Christ is more than just a super-man a healer a prophet or even a really good teacher. The Bible is more than just a collection of personalized promises to appropriate at our convenience. It is a revelation of an actual historical redemptive reality. And I needed to say that tonight if only for myself because I am surrounded by a culture that is obsessed with existential meaningless experiences that have very little or no bearing on reality. 

Instead of seeking some fleeting temporal existential or spiritual human experience we would all benefit from a continual ongoing saturation of the word of God followed by a prolonged silent meditation on not only what we have read but who it is that we have read about if only to be confronted with the startling revelation that the bible is actually about him and not so much about us. 

There is something so healing about being invaded by the reality of the bible. There is something so painfully destructive about chasing the next emotional experience. Revival has little to do with an experience and everything to do with a revelation, an external transcendent revelation. It is the revelation that Jesus Christ is all. He fills all and he satisfies all. It is a revelation that begins with an listening ear an attentive heart and a willing life. It is the revelation of the true gospel.

Too many today have forgotten the deceptive quality of their own hearts and followed them to their own vanity and fleeting emptiness. But we should not follow suit as believers. The inheritance that waits for us in Christ is too precious to be replaced by the bobbles and trinkets of their fleeting experiences. Let's not deceive ourselves into forgetting that the worship of the King is always foremost for the king, the spreading of the gospel so he can redeem the dead and reconcile the lost. We preach to bring about His judgment, to be reminded ourselves of his unsurpassed authority and worth. We are his workmanship his sheep and his children. By only chasing experiences we rob ourselves of the true joy that is to be had in this spiritual marriage we were purchased for and graciously brought into. We are like those who occupy their time in generous displays of romantic gestures but who altogether forget their spouse if all we care about are the accolades and personal experiences.

The relationship with God that we profess transcends emotionality and experience. Sure He will touch our emotions from time to time. But if we become too accustomed to those precious  moments we will be like Elijah chasing the falling fire but neglecting the value of the still small voice. 

Anyways these are my thoughts tonight. You can take them or leave them if you like. My hope is that in some small way they will stir in us an unquenchable satisfaction in the reality that God has conveyed to us in his word through his precious son the Christ. May he be the center of our thoughts and the motivations and intentions of our will whether we experience in our emotions the tangible reality of his presence or not. God bless you my fellow patient pilgrims.