We were wrong the whole time.

Worship. The very word itself is something we all struggle to define, or at least are unable to fully comprehend. If we fully understood what worship was a lot of us would be and do things completely different. What we’ve turned worship into is very different than what the Bible tells us worship is. First of all, worship is NOT, and I repeat, is NOT about us in the slightest. Most of us when we think about worship, think, “I’ve had a really long week, and I need get my mind off my struggles and focus on God.” I get it. I understand where you’re coming from, however, if my attitude is “me-centered” it’s not worship.
In 2009 I met my soon to be wife, Lucy Coble, and she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. She had everything I’d prayed for as a kid and what I wanted in my wife. So in my mind, she was the fulfillment of the promise of God in my life. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt Lucy Coble would be my bride. I did what any guy would do in that situation, I devoted every minute of every day to get to know this woman. I can remember leaving for break from school, and I worked for my dad in construction, I had to make that paper. I remember Lucy being willing to wake up at 5 AM every morning so we could just talk. We would either call each other, or text. Now mind you, this was when texts weren’t unlimited and you paid for every text you sent. Our phone bills would be $200-$300 more than average and I was responsible for paying both bills! We would also alternate weekends. I would go up north to see her, then she would come down south to see me a three and a half hour drive, EVERY WEEKEND!
By now you’re probably wondering, what do Lucy, cellphones, and you driving 3 ½ hours have to do with worship? In my early 20’s I was so devoted to making Lucy my wife I was willing to do unrealistic things. I was willing to text her, literally all day, and I was willing to stay up late in the evening just to hear her voice right before I went to bed (most of the time she would fall asleep on the phone) I was willing to have a crazy phone bill so I could see what she was up to in that very moment, and I was very willing to drive 3 and a half hours EVERY other weekend just to take her out on a date! Is that not worship?
We try to turn worship into a “Help Workshop”, where we only come to God when we need something, or we’ve struggled that week. My pursuit should not be, “God what can I GET from you?” My pursuit should be “God I want to KNOW you.” I wanted to be around Lucy in whatever capacity I could. I wanted to just spend time with her because I knew she would be in my life forever. Where is that pursuit and desire for God in our everyday lives? Is it maybe we don’t understand what worship REALLY is?
So today if you say, “I need to worship”, what’s your heart’s intent? Is it that you need something from God? Again it isn’t a bad thing, we just have to be careful what we label as worship, or is your true intent, “God I want to KNOW you more today!”
Questions to ponder:
1)How have you been worshipping God? Has it been from “me-centered” or “Him-centered?”
2)What’s something you’ve desired more than anything else? Was there a reason and did you fully devote yourself to gain it?
3)How will this change the way you view worship?
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