What's more important than worship?
I love Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday of the year.
Some like Christmas and all the music and presents. Some, oddly enough, go all out for Halloween. They have a flavor for the macabre.
Personally, I've always been a Thanksgiving guy. It combines three of my favorite elements: Jesus, football and food. It's the perfect holiday. You pray, give thanks, watch a big game and stuff yourself silly with turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. (And in my house, green bean bundles.)
While Thanksgiving has been commercialized (what American holiday hasn't?), at its core, it's a day of celebration, thanking God for all his provisions. He provides for us, even when things aren't going well. In fact, it's just as important to thank him during the dark times. He may be the only light we have.
However, we sometimes take Thanksgiving too lightly. It has a tendency to become more about the foods, the games and the traditions than thanking Jesus for all we have. We get caught up in the fellowship very easily. We treat the day extremely casual.
It shouldn't be.
Thanksgiving is a worship service for believers in Christ. We gather around our altar (in our case a table loaded with food) with the intent of offering our gifts to God and praising him for his bountiful provisions in our lives. We spend time communing with the Father over a table littered with more than enough food to feed small armies.
If the Thanksgiving table is our altar, Jesus has a stark warning for us:
"23"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift." - Matthew 5:23-24 (NIV)
Jesus says we can't worship God if anger, jealousy, malice or rage exists in our heart. If we have a relationship that needs repaired, it's of paramount importance that we reconcile the relationship. Jesus considers it more important than worship. We should stop worship to tend to our hearts and our broken relationships.
I'm guilty of violating this command. There have been many Thanksgivings where I heartily prayed and sank my teeth into luscious turkey, all the while holding on to anger or malice toward another. In that area, I sinned. My worship wasn't sincere.
Before we offer worship, we need to repair the damage we've done to others. In correlation, we need to forgive others for hurting us, even if they never seek it.
To do anything else is to cheat God. He wants our total devotion. He can't have that if we are distracted by sin.
Tending our heart is more important than worship. Only with a tended, healed and forgiving heart can we truly worship the King of Kings.
Some like Christmas and all the music and presents. Some, oddly enough, go all out for Halloween. They have a flavor for the macabre.
Personally, I've always been a Thanksgiving guy. It combines three of my favorite elements: Jesus, football and food. It's the perfect holiday. You pray, give thanks, watch a big game and stuff yourself silly with turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. (And in my house, green bean bundles.)
While Thanksgiving has been commercialized (what American holiday hasn't?), at its core, it's a day of celebration, thanking God for all his provisions. He provides for us, even when things aren't going well. In fact, it's just as important to thank him during the dark times. He may be the only light we have.
However, we sometimes take Thanksgiving too lightly. It has a tendency to become more about the foods, the games and the traditions than thanking Jesus for all we have. We get caught up in the fellowship very easily. We treat the day extremely casual.
It shouldn't be.
Thanksgiving is a worship service for believers in Christ. We gather around our altar (in our case a table loaded with food) with the intent of offering our gifts to God and praising him for his bountiful provisions in our lives. We spend time communing with the Father over a table littered with more than enough food to feed small armies.
If the Thanksgiving table is our altar, Jesus has a stark warning for us:
"23"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift." - Matthew 5:23-24 (NIV)
Jesus says we can't worship God if anger, jealousy, malice or rage exists in our heart. If we have a relationship that needs repaired, it's of paramount importance that we reconcile the relationship. Jesus considers it more important than worship. We should stop worship to tend to our hearts and our broken relationships.
I'm guilty of violating this command. There have been many Thanksgivings where I heartily prayed and sank my teeth into luscious turkey, all the while holding on to anger or malice toward another. In that area, I sinned. My worship wasn't sincere.
Before we offer worship, we need to repair the damage we've done to others. In correlation, we need to forgive others for hurting us, even if they never seek it.
To do anything else is to cheat God. He wants our total devotion. He can't have that if we are distracted by sin.
Tending our heart is more important than worship. Only with a tended, healed and forgiving heart can we truly worship the King of Kings.
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