Words or Heart?

This morning in church service I found myself, along with everyone else, singing the words "I live to worship You". I caught myself looking around at the hundreds singing these words and thinking "is this true of ALL of these people singing these words?" I thought "surely there must some in here that worship with their lips, but their hearts are far away from God". Then I began to think of my own heart and the words rolling off of my own tongue, "do I mean what I am saying?" I stopped and began to make sure I meant what I was saying. The Christian life is never merely about words rolling off of our tongues, but about hearts longing to know God deeper and more intimately. I must admit, some days I sense my heart farther from God than other days, maybe you can understand. Ultimately though, God is in the business of being worshiped, not out of duty, but because of greatness! He is great, and moods and circumstances must never stand in our way of honoring Him who deserves all praise. So if you, like me, have those days, remember the greatness of God and the words "I live to worship You" will be easy to mean wholeheartedly!
Jonathan Edwards resolved it best, "Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God' s glory..." Praise be to God!

Sam, a rock, and a Wild Goose!

Have you ever felt like letting go? Like things have just become more complicated than you wanted them to become? In these times it is easy to want to "tag out", as they say in tag team wrestling. "I've been in long enough", you may think to yourself, time to "tag out" and let someone else do the work. Tonight while watching Lord of The Rings, Return of The King, I watched as Frodo fought his own desire to keep the ring rather than throw it into the lava of Mordor. He finally ends up hanging from the side of the cliff as the ring falls into the lava, and as he is hanging, Sam says to him, "don't you give up Frodo" and he reaches down to help him. On Easter Sunday we were asked to select a rock from a pile of rocks that had been gathered for that day. "Select a rock & write a verse or encouraging word on it" the pastor told us. As I selected mine, it was a rough, tall, jagged rock. The first thing that kept coming to mind was "keep climbing with endurance", because the rock looked like a steep wall to be climbed. I read the bottom of that rock today, and was reminded of the need to continue to climb well, whatever the path looks like ahead. Finally, the book I finished up today (it took me FAR too long to finish!) is called Wild Goose Chase, by Mark Batterson. In the final paragraph he writes this:

"Two thousand years ago, Jesus issued a standing invitation:follow me. But it came with a warning, "foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay His head." "When you embark on your Wild Goose Chase(Pursuit of following the Holy Spirit) you never know where you're going to end up."

This post is for anyone who has become weary in the pursuit of following hard after the Holy Spirits leading. "Don't give up" Samwise gamgee would tell you, "keep climbing with endurance" my rock would read, and follow Jesus anywhere Mark Batterson would want you to read. Please know that you are in my prayers if you are reading this and feeling this way. Stay the course and know that Jesus will do do mighty things through those who refuse to give up!