Growing up, my brother and I were obsessed with the movie Space Jam. If I’m being honest, I still love it. If you haven’t seen it, stop reading and go watch it. The premise is completely unrealistic, but the movie combined 2 of my favorite things in 1996: basketball and cartoons. I won’t ruin the plot of the movie for you, because that isn’t the point. The point is that we were crazy about Space Jam. My family had 2 copies of the soundtrack, so me and Daniel didn’t fight over it. I loved it so much that I can quote not only the movie, but the soundtrack… and still can.
I loved Space Jam, and I guarantee that if you were around between the years of 1996-2002, you heard all about it from me. I wouldn’t shut up about Space Jam. This is because it is how we were made. We were made to celebrate and share. Think about it… when you go to a restaurant that is great, don’t you go and tell people about it? You recommend it to family and friends, and even post pictures of your food on Instagram (why do we do this?!). If you’re reading a good book, people know. If the latest super hero movie was great, I would bet your friends have heard all about it from you. You were made to celebrate things you enjoy and share about these things with the people you interact with.
God created us this way, because we were made to worship. Worship has been defined many different ways by many different people, but the way I define might be a little different. Worship is giving everything you are to everything God is. Many of us will think of worship revolving around music and church, but that cannot be the entirety of our worship. If worship is giving EVERYTHING you are, than that cannot be contained in just music or just church. It has to be wider spread than that.
With that in mind, I believe that what you consistently celebrate and share is generally going to be what or who you worship. I am not saying if you don’t constantly and consistently celebrate and share Jesus, that you don’t worship Him. However, if you never celebrate and share Jesus, that is a problem. In our American culture, we lose sight of this often. Our culture is so busy, and I find that we get far too consumed in that busyness; so much so, that we forget to even find time for Jesus in our life. Many of us often do not prioritize Rest and just spending time with Jesus.
I find, in my own life, that if my focus isn’t on Jesus throughout the day, I forget to spend time with Him. I can somehow go through a whole day without even thinking about my quiet time or even stopping for a minute to pray. I say I am dedicated to following Jesus, but if I am able to go a whole day without spending time with Him, am I as dedicated as I think? If I do not find time to worship Him throughout my day, what does that say about my priorities?
Jesus wants for us to make time for Him. Jesus wants our priorities to center around Him and for us to choose to celebrate and share Him. Jesus said that He was seeking people to worship Him.
23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
John 4:23-24
Jesus is seeking people who truly worship Him… to worship Him in spirit and truth. This means you come as you are before God; you give Him your messiness, brokenness and shame, and allow Him to turn those into beautiful redemption. You don’t come to God because you find Him useful, but you come before God and worship Him because of who He is. Let me say it again: Worship isn’t finding God useful, but finding Him worthy. Simply put, the only way to worship in spirit and truth is to give everything you are to everything He is.
Here is the thing about us: we will all worship something or someone. We were made to celebrate and share, and we will do that. Whether that be about our favorite athletes, TV shows, books, movies, our kids, our job, our friends, etc., we will find ourselves prioritizing things or people and celebrating these things. God made us that way, and He understands that we are prone to worship either ourselves, or other things than Him. That is why He reminds us in John 4 that He is seeking worshippers of Him.
We will worship something. I don’t know what that is in your life, but I know my inclination to place things in the place of Jesus in my life. We often want to be in control and place ourselves on the throne of our lives. Its about what we want, not His purpose or plan. God doesn’t want us to behave, or follow some list of rules, He wants us to worship Him. He wants to spend our day with Him, He wants us to celebrate Him, and share Him. We will all worship something or someone: our job is to make sure we are worshipping someone other than ourselves.
Trust the process. Take your next step. Now is your moment.
Remain.
Trials & Triumphs 