A husband and wife were on the way home from worship one Sunday morning. As they rode along, the wife asked her husband, “Did you see that woman in the front row showing off her Liz Claiborne suit?”
He said, “No.”
Well, “Did you see that man on our left–the one wearing that gaudy sport jacket that clashed with his slacks?”
“No, I didn’t.” her husband replied.
Then she asked, “Well, surely you noticed that young man to our right with the tattoo, wearing an ear-ring?”
Her husband looked up and in a quiet tone, with an embarrassed expression of what he was about to confess said, “Honey, to be honest with you, I dozed off during worship this morning.
His wife, in a huffy tone, then rebuked him saying, Well!! A lot of good worship does you!”
Today, as we prepare to attend a worship service, what are you looking at? Who are you focused on? Why are you there?
When John received the Revelation on Patmos he was enthralled. It was an incredible, amazing, breathtaking panorama of events that the angelic messenger unfolded before his eyes. We can understand how John might in the excitement of the moment fall down to worship the angel.
But the heavenly host said, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus.” Then he admonished the apostle with a simple two-word command: “Worship God!” (Rev. 19:10)
There are temptations for us to worship an object or a person other than God. There are distractions that can take our focus away from God. There are emotions that may even make worship seem to be a satisfying end within itself. But the angel reminds us, as he did John: Worship God!
Today as we all join fellow Christians in worship, may we sing with the spirit and the understanding. Pray with our eyes focused on the throne of God. Give as we have purposed in our hearts to minister God’s work. Really commune with Christ as we eat the supper. And apply the preaching of God’s Word to our own lives. All that we do today in our worship services is focused on one grand objective. One supreme reason. One ultimate aim.
Can you hear the herald exclaim? “Worship God!”
— Ken Weliever, The Preacher’s Word blog
