Holiness

Did you ever see the episode of Looney Tunes with the Sheep Dog and the iconic Coyote. It starts with the two guys carrying their lunch pales onto the screen and, one after the other, clock themselves in for a busy day of work. We find out later in the cartoon that the Coyote is now trying to steal sheep out of the Dogs protection. It was funny for me as a kid, but now it just seems silly. The two characters were just that, characters. They were clocking in to play their roles. Sometimes I feel that’s how we approach our gatherings together as Christians.

Whether its Monday, Tuesday night, or Sunday morning, far too often we simply show up because it’s what we’re suppose to do as Christians. Like the characters from the cartoon, we simply play our roles that we grew up learning, because that’s who we are.

I recently finished the book “The Pursuit of Holiness.” In it, the author’s main point is that we are called to be holy, because God is holy. When we arrive to our services, we don’t worship because we are Christians, we worship because we can’t stop ourselves from worshiping our holy deliverer- at least that’s how it should be.

I am super blessed to get to lead at two different events most weeks. I lead at the Jere-Whitson Campus of The River and I also lead most nights at The Gathering. But to be honest, I’d rather stay home. If I’m going to either of these places just to check off my Christian to-do list my time is much better spent sleeping in, doing homework, or almost anything else. I know some Sundays are hard, believe me I know, but whenever we get a chance to worship corporately with other believers it’s a time to be expressive. A time to publicly show how much we love our Father, whose love conquered the grave and paid our sinful debt!

If you find yourself in the middle of a habit, I’d ask you to ask God to search your heart. He says he’ll give us anything we ask for. King David, the one that God calls his own, even had to ask this of God. Psalms 51 is a perfect model to follow in your quest for true worship. In this chapter, David longs for the first joy of his salvation and he admits his knowledge that it’s not God that keeps him from that joy, it’s his own sinfulness. If services just aren’t doing it for you anymore, read this Psalm and pray David’s prayer. Again, when we ask, God gives whatever is asked of him by his children.

If you’re on the other end of the spectrum, if you’re living in worship everyday of the week, and if Sunday mornings (or any other worship service) are just a chance for you to let out all that boxed up worship you’ve been saving all week, well then great! Keep it going! Your worship brings God glory and is an  encouragement to those around you.

 

Thanks for reading! My heart with this blog is to encourage anyone who longs for a deeper knowledge of God’s love and promises. I’m going to try my best at it this semester here (along with others) and hope anyone reading it will be inspired– not by my sub-par writing, but by God’s gracious love.

 

–Curtis