i was thinking recently about how we praise God. We typically sing songs. We also, hopefully, try to live in a way that brings Him glory. Both are an important part of worshiping Him. i've been thinking a bit about the singing part. Every song i can think of is designed to praise God for who He is in relationship to us. He is our provider. He is our savior. He is good to us. We sing these songs and try to emphasize the "He" but in practice (simply by consistency of subject matter) we end up emphasizing the "us". i think i would really like to have a song that praises God for who He is on His own.
i feel like God is so much bigger than His relationship with us yet we limit our expression to things that we know based on our relationship with Him. Maybe this isn't all bad. God tells us to come to him like little children. Children don't always understand that their father may be the best blah, blah, blah in his district or that mom is a top notch etc, etc. Children know their parents exclusively through their interaction. As such, children's expressions of adoration exist through that filter.
Perhaps God designed our relationship with Him this way intentionally. I know that God is too much for me to understand. i know that he is too great for me to comprehend. i realize that to praise Him for something other than what He is to me would require me to know/understand something i may not be built to know/understand. That fact leads me to only two possible conclusions:
- i have simply become a more mature follower of Christ and i desire a more mature (for lack of a better word) worship.
or
- my pride has gotten so out of control that i think i can praise God on a higher level than David himself.
i honestly go back and forth between the two conclusions. both make a good deal of sense. Either way, i like to believe that my goal is to praise Him and give Him the Praise He deserves. i may be kidding myself. i may have found a way to work a sinful attitude into my desire to praise the Lord. Whatever the case, i can't get away from the feeling that so much of our worship is more self-focused than it could be.
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it is interesting how everything we do we somehow relate back to ourselves. it brings me back to my previous argument that nothing we do is completely selfless. even the act of worshiping our Lord is ultimately an act unto ourselves in the end. We worship the lord because we love Him? or because we don't want to go to hell? I often wonder if there really is a vivid distinction between the two. It is true, that I do NOT want to go to hell, yet I do want love and serve Jesus.
In the end, it all comes down to the hearts intention. The things done and thought in secret that no one will EVER know. It seems more evident to me that worshiping with song, however a good thing it may be, is trite in comparison to a life lived in response to His unwavering, completely selfless love for stupid sons of bitches like you and I. I mean no disrespect, you're my bro, but we were born rebellious idiots.
very perplexing post. good stuff.
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