A friend of mine (David Manner) posted an interesting thought on twitter yesterday, and it has stuck with me today as I work. He said "If you eat only one meal a week, you will always demand food that you like."
This statement was made in relation to the conflict that arises in many churches concerning worship styles and preferences. If we only worship God once a week (Sunday Mornings) we will always want that experience to be what we like. Hymns, Praise Choruses, Liturgical prayers, Spontaneously letting the Spirit lead, etc... This led me to a question in my mind...how often do I (or you) worship during the week?
I think the biggest challenge for me in this question is our definition of worship. Too many times we call worship that portion in a church service when we are singing. If that is the extent of our definition of worship, it's no wonder that many people don't even think about worshiping during the rest of the week. I mean how many of us have a band, choir, and projection system in the garage that we can whip out each evening?
Our definition of worship has to be expanded. What if we defined worship as "Our response to God for all He has done for us." A simple definition, one that definitely doesn't cover all there is to think about worship, but let's run with it. This would include singing to God in a corporate setting. However, it would also include so much more...Prayers for help, prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of intercession are all appropriate responses to God's presence in our lives. Taking care of our spouse and children, visiting our parents, and working at our job as if we are working for Jesus, all of these are things that we can do in response to how God has blessed us. Even doing the dishes can become an act of worship when we take time to recognize God's presence with us in both the mundane and exciting times of life.
So let's ask the question I asked with the title of this blog...how often are you eating? Are you living each day as a gift from God or as just a step to the next promotion, vacation, or weekend? Are you taking time to see God at work around you and thank Him for working in your life, or are you simply going through the motions required to accomplish the task at hand. If you don't look for God, pray to God, and thank God in the day to day, how will you recognize Him when He is present in the Sunday morning Worship Service? Our worship is to be the purpose of our lives, when it becomes simply one more thing on our to do list, we become consumers who will often times demand our way because that is what we do with everything we consume.
Can I challenge you and me to start eating a bit more often? Look for God today, He's there...
