Quality time with Jesus

Wow... it has been a while since I've posted anything on here - life just gets pretty busy sometimes, I guess. And I've never wanted to post anything on here just for the sake of putting up a post.

Lately, however, I've been thinking and reading about God's affection for us individually, and for us as the church; the body of Christ. It is good to focus on the theology of the gospel, as it is through the gospel that our minds are renewed and we are transformed into the likeness of Jesus. But in focusing on the theology, it can be easy to forget the significance and nature of our relationship with God. Because that's just what it is: a relationship! Whilst sorting through a box of old papers and mementos I've kept through my walk with God - notebooks, scribblings of great bible verses and quotes, notes taken from sermons, and prayers written from the heart - I came across a quote I pulled out of a book I read years ago by Joanna Weaver, 'Having a Mary heart in a Martha world':

"What an amazing thought that Christ wants to spend quality time with me. 

That he looks forward to our time together, and misses when I don't show up... 

A relationship doesn't just happen. It has to be nurtured, protected, and loved."

How true this is! When I compare this to my marriage with Marty (which I'm comfortable doing, because it is biblically a reflection of the church's relationship with Jesus), I suddenly understand the importance of time spent with God. I know that Marty and I struggle and we feel distant when we haven't had enough quality time together in a while. We will make it a priority, and even turn down invitations to hang out with other friends, or attend parties, if it means we can have that time to build our relationship.

Time spent with God is important - we know that - but to think about how much God wants to spend time with us transforms it from a duty ("I should do it...") to a delight ("I get to do it...").  It is no longer another item on the to-do list, but instead becomes something I get to do each day. We get to sit in the presence of the God of the universe, relating to him as our heavenly Father! We can pour out our anxieties, our pain, our joys, our grief, our hopes and our dreams to him, knowing not only that he cares, but also that He has the power to do something about it and He knows - with infinite wisdom - what is best for us, even when we don't. We know that when we open God's Word, it is living and active, and God can speak to our hearts directly through the words on those pages, if only we will stop and listen for a little while. And we know that when we delight ourselves in Him, he will give us the desires of our hearts, meaning he will transform our desires so that they align more perfectly with His.

What a joy it is (and I hope it will continue to be) to spend time in the presence of our Creator and sustainer.

Worship: An expression of adoration

Over the past couple of years I have been involved in music at our church, and have consequently had many conversations about how we worship God in this context. I have been surprised at how many people have said to me that they don't know why we sing at church... and yet we do it every week for a decent proportion of the service. To me that's worrying.

So I've been pondering this notion of worship, and I know that worship is much more than singing - it's a life-attitude of glorifying God. But there's something about music that I've always felt is a special way of praising God. I've just struggled to articulate it. I think I can now, so here goes...

As a church we pray in thanks, in confession, and in supplication, but so rarely do we pray in pure adoration of God. Singing as a congregation is an opportunity to drop everything where we are (physically and spiritually) and give God praise for who he is and for what he has done.

It's certainly possible to worship God in other ways, but through the unique tool of music we can focus on God and sacrifice something of ourselves to Him in that moment. And that's just what God wants - our attention. It's like listening to a friend with our full attention. By doing this we are saying through our actions, "You are important enough to me to deserve my undivided attention". God can speak to us, but he wants our attention first so that we are ready to hear his voice.