“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
When I was in Jr. High School, the British rock group Badfinger recorded the song, "Without You." For some reason the refrain of that song is playing on my mind:
“I can’t live if living is without you.”
I know, “That's strange!” American preacher, British group, Sunday is coming, and I am thinking of a rock song that is graying with time. It speaks to the way my meandering mind works and to the influence of music in my life -- but we won't go there for now, it's not the point.
The point is I know how the songwriters feel (Pete Ham and Tom Evans wrote the song). I feel that way about worship with the people of God:
I've got to have it.
I can't live without it.
I need worship to survive.
This is not emotional swooning. This is cold-hard conviction. God re-anchors my soul in worship. I would be in the ditch without it.
Switching playlists, my heart sings with the psalmist when he said,
“I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD!’”
I also resonate with the Sons of Korah in Psalm 84:
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you! Psalm 84:1, 10-12 ESV
Andrew Evans, a friend from Liverpool, has said,
“Jesus is not like the rulers we hate, nor like the rulers we crave. Instead, he is the Ruler we need.”
Christians cannot sustain a vital walk with Jesus apart from worship with the people of God. We are made for it.
Worship is gathering with God's people, singing praises to him, and listening to His Word preached. It is an essential part of our spiritual diet. Eugene Peterson puts the importance of worship this way:
“Worship is the strategy by which we interrupt our preoccupation with ourselves and attend to the presence of God.”
Sometimes we feel like we just can't live without ...
A boat, a car, or a hobby
Downtime
Netflix
Game Of Thrones
A certain someone
Friday night!
NFL
I know me . . . I can't live without worship. It is one of the ways God sustains my soul. When I read the Scriptures I can say unequivocally that it is one of the way God sustains your soul too.
This Sunday, the family of SRC will be gathering for worship at 9:00 and 10:45 a.m.. We are “interrupting our preoccupations” to tend to God’s presence — not because He needs, but because we do.
Come re-anchor your soul to the God who made you, who loves you, and who sustains you with every good gift.
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