Connected to God in Worship
(Part 02 – Do Not Hold Back)
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“Bible Reflection from Luke
7:36-38”
Luke
7:36-38 (CEV)
36 A Pharisee invited Jesus to have dinner with
him. So Jesus went to the Pharisee's home and got ready to eat.
37 When a sinful woman in that town found out
that Jesus was there, she bought an expensive bottle of perfume.
38 Then she came and stood behind Jesus. She cried
and started washing his feet with her tears and drying them with her hair. The
woman kissed his feet and poured the perfume on them.
Read before: PART 01 - Properly Planned
Wouldn't
worship every Sunday be so fun, if you could always feel God was present and
close to you?
Isn't
it wonderful if every Sunday, in worship, you can feel God touch your heart,
and you come home with God's blessings?
Let's
look at a character in the Bible, a woman in Luke 7:36-38.
Who even though
she only visited the Lord Jesus briefly, but she felt that she was so close to
God, she felt accepted by God as she is, and God changed her life.
Because what this woman does is what we
need to do in order to feel closeness to God in every worship.
#3 Doing it with a full heart (vv. 38-39)
What
this woman did when she met the Lord Jesus, was she did it with a full heart,
feelings that spilled out. She did not hold back when expressing her feelings
of love for her Lord.
Although she must have
realized that doing this kind of thing in a crowd, was definitely not something
pleasant to look at.
We often care more about what other people think, than whether we have sufficiently expressed our love for God.
We
often hold back emotionally when we worship. There are people who are so caught
up in the praise of worship that they cry, but suddenly they realize that they
are in a crowd, so they refrain from crying.
Some
feel moved to raise their hands when praising God, but because of the sharp
glances from next door friends, their hands automatically drop.
What
does God really want us to do in worship?
Mark
12:30 says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."
Can
we love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, with all
our strength, if we hold back emotionally?
Let
us learn not to hold back emotionally when we come to worship God.
This
means that no matter what other people may think, I want to worship God with a
full heart.
If
we are shy when we worship God, we are not worshiping God in the way God wants,
that is, with all our hearts. With a full heart.
#4 Make it Highly Valuable (vv. 37-39)
Finally,
this woman met the Lord Jesus with a great appreciation. She did not
think of it as something cheap and could be found anywhere. Shee is
willing to do anything to be able to meet the God he loves.
There was even a price she had to pay.
- In material terms, it is clear that it provides a very expensive perfume.
- In terms of time, surely he must arrange a time to be able to meet God.
- Emotionally, there is also a feeling of shame that she may feel.
She knew, as Simon
and everyone else knew who
she
was. Being in a crowd like that was something she was
uncomfortable with.
I
recently realized that these are feelings some Christians may also have, and it
is these feelings that make it hard for them to go to church
to worship.
Some may felt I still
smoked, I still lied, I still got angry, I didn't belong in church. But for
God, all of us are worthy.
As God accepts this woman as she is, God
also accepts us as we are.
HE will help
us overcome all our weaknesses and sinful habits. And while it was walking, HE still
accepted us into HIS house to worship.
Make
our worship, our meeting with God as a high valuable meeting
every Sunday.. Don't miss it for anything. And whatever needs to be paid, pay
it.
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Read Also: True Spiritual Revival
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