Through my years of being a pastor I take notice of when my friends from church get out of the habit of meeting with the Body of Christ. Part of that reality is I do have to report numbers, but the bigger part is I miss my friends when they stop meeting with me for worship. I also know it is difficult to keep up our connection with God when we are not involved in the corporate worship of God. There is power in gathering with like minded people to honor and glorify God. But what do we do when we feel like worship has become a habit without power or God's presence? The prophet Isaiah was living in a different day than we do today. If you were an Israelite in those days you could not just choose another place to worship. However Isaiah deals with the people of his day about what if their worship was not pleasing to God? What if our religious activity is merely human and not honoring God? Now that is a problem we could also have today. There are times when worship seems more like a habit then alive and a powerful part of our lives. What do we do in those moments? Isaiah told the people of his day to check their motives for worship.
‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
and you don’t even notice it!’
The people felt like they were doing the right religious activities but that God was not paying attention. They felt like they were fasting and praying but God was ignoring their efforts. So God responds to the people through the prophet:
Isaiah 58:5-7
You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind.
“No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
and remove the chains that bind people.
7 Share your food with the hungry,
and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
Our worship and our lives need to be on the same page. We can not go to church on Sunday and hope to honor God if we living lives Monday-Saturday that are the opposite of worship of God. God says we need to be at work for the oppressed, for the hungry, homeless, naked and needy family. So if we think our worship is not connecting with God, the first thing is to allow God to examine our everyday actions and our hearts of compassion for people in need around us.
God's hope for us is that our worship would help us connect with God:
Isaiah 58:11
The Lord will guide you continually,
giving you water when you are dry
and restoring your strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like an ever-flowing spring.
There may be times in our lives when we feel like we are going through a desert season and we just need to keep the habit of worship until the Holy Spirit revives our hearts. There are times when we need to check our motives and make sure our daily lives are consistent with what we proclaim on Sunday.
No comments:
Post a Comment