Worshipful Wednesday: Praising Our Vindicating God

Psalm 135:1-5, 13-14

1 “Praise the LORD! Praise the name of the LORD! Offer praise, you servants of the LORD, 2 who serve in the LORD’s temple, in the courts of the temple of our God. 3 Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good! Sing praises to his name, for it is pleasant! 4 Indeed, the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel to be his special possession. 5 Yes, I know the LORD is great, and our Lord is superior to all gods. 13 O LORD, your name endures, your reputation, O LORD, lasts. 14 For the LORD vindicates his people, and has compassion on his servants.”

In this passage, David is speaking to God’s people here – His servants who serve in His temple.  If ever anyone needed encouragement, it is those who serve in God’s temple.

My heart breaks when I see injured people traumatized by a misunderstanding, conflict or by someone else’s actions.  All the more when this happens within the walls of the church.  Sometimes we, the church, get so wrapped up in doing what’s right that we are in the wrong.

I’ve been there.  In the most devastating time of my life, when I sought refuge in my church – I found I was silenced, instead.  The enemy is a master at concealing things that need to be brought to light so people can heal and move on.

In the name of being above approach and not gossiping, the silence is deafening and sins can be glossed over.  But the lack of addressing the elephant in the room will only cause it to become larger, still, morphed into something even more devastating.

The sheep are harassed and helpless, and oftentimes those who minister to the sheep bear burdens that are heavy.  But the beautiful secret weapon shared in this Psalm is for everyone.

The Psalmist reminds us to focus on what matters – praising God.  Unless God’s people refuse to tolerate religiosity and utilize our most powerful tool in the face of strife and troubles: praising God in the midst, we will be nothing more than a club; a group of people gathering together.

Those who know God and are informed about His awesome deeds are reminded in this passage to sing praises to God.  Catalysts for our praise are reflecting on His character, His miraculous deeds and His faithfulness. Praising Him is our greatest calling and strength.  We must refute anything that would distract us from this great purpose in our lives – glorifying God in the church and in our personal lives.

You see, there is something intrinsically powerful about worshiping God. We cannot truly praise the LORD without Him revealing motives that need to be exposed.  We cannot come sing to the One without conviction rising if we are attempting to hide something from the One Who sees all.  It is in praising Him that we are delivered and walk in forgiveness and freedom. It is in praising Him that we are vindicated form the enemy’s accusations, set free to no longer focus on the temporary things of this world.

No matter what goes on around us or where we serve God – in the temple or in a secular post, we will all face burdens that only God can lift.  Perhaps the sweetest truth in the lives of His children is that He notices us – and not just sees our inner turmoil, but He has compassion on His servants and vindicates them, all for His glory.

Curiously, the act of worship and praise is not solely for God, for it is while we all praise God together that He works in our hearts, exposing darkness and drawing us nearer to Himself.

Lord, thank You for the gift of praising You.  We need to worship You. Purify our hearts and Your bride, Lord.  All for your glory.

Worshipful Wednesday: Determined Praise

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Proverbs 16:28

“A perverse person spreads dissension, and a gossip separates the closest friends.”

Psalm 108:1-3

1 “A song, a psalm of David. I am determined, O God! I will sing and praise you with my whole heart. 2 Awake, O stringed instrument and harp! I will wake up at dawn! 3 I will give you thanks before the nations, O LORD! I will sing praises to you before foreigners!”

Psalm 109:1-4, 21, 26-30

1 For the music director, a psalm of David. O God whom I praise, do not ignore me! 2 For they say cruel and deceptive things to me; they lie to me. 3 They surround me and say hateful things; they attack me for no reason. 4 They repay my love with accusations, but I continue to pray. 21 O sovereign LORD, intervene on my behalf for the sake of your reputation! Because your loyal love is good, deliver me! 26 Help me, O LORD my God! Because you are faithful to me, deliver me! 27 Then they will realize this is your work, and that you, LORD, have accomplished it. 28 They curse, but you will bless. When they attack, they will be humiliated, but your servant will rejoice. 29 My accusers will be covered with shame, and draped in humiliation as if it were a robe. 30 I will thank the LORD profusely, in the middle of a crowd I will praise him…”

If you have ever been talked about, it is not much fun.  Inner turmoil is a possibility, but it does not have to be our reality. David was bugged by people spreading false rumors about him.  He told God about it, but what is so beautiful is how He rested in God as His Defender.  He did not need to refute the lies.  He just trusted that His Daddy would take care of it for him.  Even more amazing was that He knew that falsehood spread about him hurt God’s reputation because His child was being spoken about in a hateful way.  David was jealous for God’s glory and wanted His reputation cleared.  People were jealous of David and wanted his reputation marred.  David just cried out and rested in His loving Father’s acceptance and love.

We do not know fully what the attacks were on David, but He defeated it with prayer, faith and worship.  In His prayer, He uses the future tense – He had already decided and determined that He was going to praise God and He was confident that God would move on His behalf.  That is the place of peace and sincere worship.  When people attack, whether it is due to jealousy or presumptions, we are not accountable to people’s perceptions, but we are accountable to God.  In that place of suffering, a catalyst for drawing nearer to God is formed.

Our response at such times can bring Him glory, or can drag us down into the mud with the mudslingers.  Not much decision there.  I confess that when I have been in similar situations, I am hurt but I do not wish for people’s demise as strongly as David did.  I just wish people could believe the best and be all about God’s glory instead of finding things to be bugged about. The time is short and we need to be upset about things that really matter … like Christians persecuted and murdered for their faith, or a nation that is falling from within.

If we are honest, we have all spoken about others at one time or another.  We have also probably been the recipient of such treatment.  This ugly behavior even enters the church.  Although it can be painful to endure when people attack us for no reason, it is a beautiful tool in the Master’s hands, freeing us from the fear of man and stirring up fervent praise.  He is worthy at all times!

Lord, thank You for helping us to have Your perspective and for bearing all of our burdens.  I worship You, Lord, and thank You that You are our Defender.  May You be glorified in our moments of blessing and in challenging times, as well.

Truthful Tuesday: Exposed in His Presence

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Leviticus 10: 1-3

Then Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his fire pan and put fire in it, set incense in it, and presented strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them to do. 2 So fire went out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them so that they died before the LORD. 3 Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke: ‘Among the ones close to me I will show myself holy, and in the presence of all the people I will be honored.”  So Aaron kept silent. 

Leviticus 11:44a-45

“For I am the LORD your God and you are to sanctify yourselves and be holy because I am holy… 45 For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, and you are to be holy because I am holy.”

Nothing is hidden from the LORD.  It is folly to try to conceal anything in the first place, but we easily go astray and are deceived into thinking we can rationalize our unfaithfulness and make it acceptable in the sight of the One Holy One.

He is the same God today – still Holy in a new covenant.  He still wants our first fruits, our best – and is worthy of such an offering.  Somehow we buy into the philosophy that this amazing God of grace will wink His eye at our futile attempts because we “tried”.  It is this lukewarm washed down mentality that condones sin as being what is common and yet there is a cry in our souls that we are to seek to be Holy as He is Holy.  He who gave His very best, His only Son, expects such a sacrifice from those Who would receive such a mighty gift.

Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu were serving the LORD.  Not sure what the strange fire was, but it was straying from what God commanded.  What a privilege it is to serve in God’s house.  Not because of position, but because of His incredible redemption – taking rebels steeped in self and sin and changing them to humble servants, seeking to do His will.  So what happened?  How did Nadab and Abihu stray?  Were they placed there in a position that they were not qualified for because of relationship?  Did they have accountability?  There is not much that I detest more than seeing one of God’s children failing spiritually.  The ensuing disillusionment for many affected is devastating – all over choices made to gratify self instead of pleasing a Holy God.

The example of Aaron’s sons terrifies me because I want to be found faithful but see the same capability in myself. Corruption is the natural course for us all, apart from accountability, the grace of God and the fear of God firm in our hearts. Could this sin have been avoided?  We can try to blame Dad, but his sons were all grown up by this point.  Maybe something was lacking in their training and they could have filled a two-part series on Oprah about the struggles of being PK’s.  I don’t know, but I do know that we have no one to blame for our own faithlessness other than ourselves.

In the struggle of humanity, His grace is still available to all who would reach for it.  The problem is we often do not see our need of it.  The lavish grace and blood spilled out on our behalf was not so we could just be saved and live apart from Him, but His pure, Holy sacrifice serves as a vivid reminder of the depravity of our soul when left to our own devices.  It cost HIm His life.  Back to Aaron’s sons.  They were there, offering sacrifices – right in front of them the reality of sin’s consequences – blood spilled out to cover sins – and it became merely ritual to them, something they could do their way.

This same attitude is in the church today.  Elements of the church service are fought over as different perspectives over how each aspect of our worship service should be done.  Wow, has the body of Christ missed it big time.  It is all about Him. How can we reveal His love and glory to those coming, hungering for more of Him?

In our desire to serve God and share His salvation with a lost world, we can easily get lost and forget in the midst of our programs and plans that we still serve a Holy God.  Familiarity with the church service can become religious dogma, but God is watching to see who acknowledges Him and His holiness in the midst of our routine.  Maybe routine is a distraction that can cover our nakedness before the LORD.  It is easier to go through the motions than to lay our hearts transparent before Him to do surgery.  Don’t get me wrong – order in our services is a framework that can really glorify God, but God help us to never allow that framework to become mere duty.  Nothing is routine with Him and He wants to fill our churches with His presence.

This weary world is spiraling out of control.  Judgment is coming and it starts with us – with God’s church.  The time to quarrel about techniques and perspectives is over.  The days are evil.  We must be all about cooperation and God’s glory. If we rend our hearts and set aside trying to sanitize our waywardness and instead expose our desperate need for a Holy God, in that beautiful place is liberty and true worship of our King.  He reveals our sin that we might confess our sins and find incredible mercy in His presence.

Thoughtful Thursday: Our Transcendent God

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Jeremiah 23:23-24 (NET)

23 “Do you people think that I am some local deity and not the transcendent God?” the LORD asks.  24 “Do you really think anyone can hide himself where I cannot see him?” the LORD asks. “Do you not know that I am everywhere?” the LORD asks.

Isaiah 55:8 (NET)

8 “Indeed, my plans are not like your plans, and my deeds are not like your deeds, 9 for just as the sky is higher than the earth, so my deeds are superior to your deeds and my plans superior to your plans.”

Job 11:7 (ESV)

“Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?”

Romans 11:33-36 (NET)

33 “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? 35 Or who has first given to God, that God needs to repay him? 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.

Psalm 113:5-6

Who can compare to the LORD our God, who sits on a high throne? 6 He bends down to look at the sky and the earth.”

John 8:23

“Jesus replied, “You people are from below; I am from above. You people are from this world; I am not from this world.””

How do I even begin to write about God’s greatness?  How is it that such grace has come to us that we can know Him? Today I am struck by how much higher His ways and thoughts are from ours.  We do not even recognize how small and needful we are, apart from His grace and the Holy Spirit revealing our soul’s heart cry for someone greater than ourselves.

Fans of movie stars are in awe at the sight of what they consider greatness, but those stars are merely creations. So many things in this world grab our attention and worship, but none of them are truly worth such devotion.  Only our living God is worthy of such respect.  We worship a God Who is greater than us – truly worthy of our worship.

All at once we are undone that God can see into our inmost soul – our thoughts before we conceive them, our motivations, our every action.  To be so known and yet accepted by a Holy God is too much too completely comprehend.

How do we know this awesome God, whose face we cannot behold, lest we perish?  Whose presence cannot be contained?  Whose Holiness is so foreign to our fleshly mortality?  Who is sovereign over all activity on earth?  Who, in His genius designed every aspect of creation down to the smallest particle?  Who is Omniscient, knowing all?  Who is outside time?  Who has always been?  Who would establish righteous laws and then fulfill them by choosing to come live among a corrupt, spiritually bankrupt people and lay His life down for them?

This mystery of God’s revelation of Himself to us is miraculous and not able to be fully understood.  Our eyes were blind to His supremacy and our need of Him until He drew us to Himself and caused us to understand.

How beyond words is the fact that we are invited, finite and poor, to fellowship with the Holy One, the Omnipresent and beyond the highest riches – our transcendent God.  But why does His transcendence matter?  Because we were made to worship and though we are easily fascinated with substitutes trying to fill that vacuum, our inmost being longs to worship Someone higher than ourselves.

When we consider a God that is not easily defined or understood, a sense of awe is pervasive within our souls.  To pause and seek what truly matters and to worship the One Who is, Who was, and Who is to come, we are worshiping the One Who is higher than any other entity on this earth for all eternity.  It is in worshiping the Almighty God, the Creator of this universe, that we are doing what we were made to do and find our greatest joy and sense of purpose.  Worshiping the Only One Who is awesome and far above us causes us to rise out of what is perceived as an ordinary life and see the spiritual realities all around us.  It is in worshiping our transcendent God that we are enabled to live in a way which glorifies our Maker and transcends ourselves beyond merely living for the here and now.

Lord, You are awesome, Holy, so much higher than us.  Thank You for drawing us to Yourself. Help us to know You more and to worship You with sincere hearts, lost in Your greatness and found by You.  Give us understanding about how great You are that we would never stray from You. 

Worshipful Wednesday: The Context of God’s Purposes

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Jeremiah 29:10 – 14

10 “For the LORD says, ‘Only when the seventy years of Babylonian rule are over will I again take up consideration for you. Then I will fulfill my gracious promise to you and restore you to your homeland. 11 For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the LORD. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope. 12 When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, I will hear your prayers. 13 When you seek me in prayer and worship, you will find me available to you. If you seek me with all your heart and soul, 14 I will make myself available to you,’ says the LORD. ‘Then I will reverse your plight and will regather you from all the nations and all the places where I have exiled you,’ says the LORD. ‘I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.’

Jeremiah 30:11, 15-17, 24

11 “For I, the LORD, affirm that I will be with you and will rescue you. I will completely destroy all the nations where I scattered you. But I will not completely destroy you. I will indeed discipline you, but only in due measure. I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished. 15 Why do you complain about your injuries, that your pain is incurable? I have done all this to you because your wickedness is so great and your sin is so much 16 But all who destroyed you will be destroyed. All your enemies will go into exile. Those who plundered you will be plundered. I will cause those who pillaged you to be pillaged. 17 Yes, I will restore you to health. I will heal your wounds. I, the LORD, affirm it! For you have been called an outcast, Zion, whom no one cares for. 24 The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has fully carried out his intended purposes. In days to come you will come to understand this.”

 

Possibly one of the most well-known promises of God is found in Jeremiah 29:11.  This promise is perhaps popular because we want to believe that our good is God’s goal.  But there is a higher purpose than our comfort and blessing.  God’s glory and a right relationship with Him far exceeds the value of our lives being perfect on this earth.

Rarely have I heard this precious promise considered in the context in which it was made.  It was a promise of restoration and healing in the midst of impending doom being spoken to Jeremiah for God’s people.  God was preparing to discipline His children in captivity to Babylon for seventy years, but gave them hope that He was going to use that captivity to ultimately set them free.   God’s purposes are always good, but the processes we go through in those purposes are not often valued in the eyes of man.

If relief from suffering is our goal, we miss the jewel in the midst of suffering and what it can produce.  From a place of suffering some of the most sincere worship is found.  It is in the dark places that we finally cease to rely on self and cry out to our heavenly Father.  Our eyes are opened to our need for God’s cleansing in our lives and suddenly our focus becomes clearer.  We see Him as our life; nothing in this life could ever satisfy us more than Himself.

We are easily deceived during times of blessing and of trial.  Blessing lulls us into a state of being lukewarm and God loves us enough to wake us up and show us what really matters.  The enemy uses hardship as an opportunity to create doubt in our hearts about God’s character.  

Within our Christian culture there can be lies of prosperity being all that God has planned for His people.  But we do not want to be guilty of what the false prophets were in Jeremiah’s day.  They counseled rebellion against the LORD by insisting that the hardship Jeremiah prophesied was not from God.  If we ascribe to the philosophy of only blessings for God’s people, we become spoiled children only wanting what we perceive as good gifts from our God. 

Accepting hardship as discipline from our loving God and praising Him in the midst is where our greatest gift really lies.  His purposes truly are only good, all the time.  How truly marvelous that our God would go to such lengths to convey His plan and hope to us.  In His mercy, God exposes our hearts and reveals that we have worshiped at the god of comfort and of self.  We are set free when we trust God in all seasons and worship Him in the fire as well as in the times off peace.

Even though it can be difficult to understand why God allows suffering in, God promises we will understand His purposes when we seek Him with all our heart.  His purposes are often hidden deep within our circumstances, a gift to be discovered by those who are willing to lay down their own agenda and seek His will.  It is in our fervent worship that we begin to see His purposes far surpass our understanding.  It is in laying down our desire for a problem-free life and yielding to His plan rather than fighting it or merely surviving that we begin to see through the eyes of eternity.

What a good God to inject hope when His people were under siege.  God knows we are fragile and tend to see only what is right in front of us.  His promises are amazing, but not meant to be our joy – He is our ultimate joy and satisfaction in this life.

Lord, help us to find our real purpose and joy in this life – You.  Help us to worship You through every purpose and plan You have for this life.

Worshipful Wednesday: Pervasive Worship

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Psalm 71:8

“I praise you constantly and speak of your splendor all day long.”

I was blessed to attend the GMA Immerse Conference in Nashville this week with my husband.  That moment when all of the Christian musicians around you are all lifting up the name of Jesus is a taste of Heaven.  But what struck me this week is that we are all worship leaders.

Worship leading is not just referring to responding to God through music.  It is the attitude of our heart throughout all of the capers of life – an opportunity to express worship to God through each moment.  The way we react when the pressures of life surround us affects those around us and can lead them to worship God or doubt Him.

All too often we can isolate worship to a specific segment of our day or week.  Being attentive to God’s activity around us and in us is worship.  Reading His Word, prayer, listening or preaching a sermon is worship.  Caring for our children and our spouses is worship – all that we do is worship when we do it all for God’s glory.

How we respond to life leads others around us to respond in like manner.  Gratitude in the face of disappointment, thankfulness over God’s provision, joy when the circumstances around us are heavy.  All of these responses are supernatural as we are enabled by the God of this universe when we come to Him.

Lord, help us to recognize that every aspect of our lives is to be poured out for You and others.  What a privilege it is to worship You, LORD!  Help us to lead others around us to worship You in every part of the precious life You have given!

The Purpose of Giving

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2 Corinthians 9:11-12

You will be enriched in every way so that you may be generous on every occasion, which is producing through us thanksgiving to God, 12 because the service of this ministry is not only providing for the needs of the saints but is also overflowing with many thanks to God.

It feels good to give to others. Knowing that we can make a difference in someone else’s life is rewarding, but isn’t the motivation of giving. Nor should guilt over blessings in our lives be a reason, either. No – giving, like every other aspect of our lives, is for God’s glory.

To think that thoughtfulness toward another can result in praise to God humbles me. So many times I have been concerned with self and my own provision and missed opportunities to bring praise to God. When my kids and I were on our own, the need was so strong that it hurt. The sting of being alone and seemingly forgotten while others around us had all they needed began to engulf me. Looking back, God gave grace to be others-centered at first. As time went on and circumstances were dire, however, I began to forget that focusing on other’s needs was where my happiness and joy lay.

Sometimes a shift can happen without our realizing. We might have had a good foundation of generosity, but when troubles abounded, our vision became blurred. Giving can easily become a checklist and a burden instead of a privilege when we forget that our God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and wants to take care of us. His care is not so we will be lavish and spoiled, but so we might help others, too.

When we choose to give despite knowing we have unmet needs, God is glorified. Who knows what our help can mean to another person? It might be their very means of grace for salvation or give them encouragement in a dry season, culminating in thanks and worship to God. That is what the purpose is in giving – helping others, which results in God receiving glory and gratitude.

We each takes turns in this life – helping others and being helped.  Like washing one another’s feet, giving can be a beautiful act of service and a testimony for the world to see.

Lord, help us to see giving as being agents on Your behalf.  May we never forget the generosity of your free gift of salvation and be motivated to serve others from that place of humility, all for Your glory.

Worshipful Wednesday: Our Awesome God

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Job 36:26; 37:5-7

“Yes, God is great–beyond our knowledge! The number of his years is unsearchable. 5 God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. 6 For to the snow he says, ‘Fall to earth,’ and to the torrential rains, ‘Pour down.’ 7 He causes everyone to stop working, so that all people may know his work.”

Job 37:14-16, 20, 23

“Pay attention to this, Job! Stand still and consider the wonders God works. 15 Do you know how God commands them, how he makes lightning flash in his storm cloud?  16 Do you know about the balancing of the clouds, that wondrous activity of him who is perfect in knowledge?” 20 Should he be informed that I want to speak? If a man speaks, surely he would be swallowed up! 23 As for the Almighty, we cannot attain to him! He is great in power, but justice and abundant righteousness he does not oppress.”

Psalm 68:35

“You are awe-inspiring, O God, as you emerge from your holy temple! It is the God of Israel who gives the people power and strength. God deserves praise!”

We use the word awesome so much today, we forget what the word truly means.  When we say someone or something is awesome, we are saying it is far above ourselves.  Worthy of praise and admiration.  It is a word which our vocabulary cannot sufficiently define.  While there are amazing things which God has created, none of them come close to the wonder of Him.

In this world of self-worship, recognizing someone as greater than ourselves is not typical.  In fact, dumbing things down has become commonplace and excellence is scoffed at.  It would seem that “awesomeness” has become a common word describing anything that we think is cool.

We have become so casual today that reverence seems outdated.  But there is still a Holy God Who is truly the only one Who inspires genuine awe in us all.  We cannot understand fully His Holiness or His ways, and yet He allows us to know Him, revealing Himself to us through His Word and activity in our lives. How incredible.  In a moment he can reduce the bravest among us into a frail speck of dust, but withholds his judgment and grants mercy instead.  Awesome indeed.

The One Who gives us strength and wisdom to live is the only One we should worship.  This life cannot deliver what our souls ache for.  We can try to find meaning and joy in this life, but the deepest abiding joy is only found in Him.  We were made to worship – not just something created – but the One Who is outside time and Who has always been and will always be.  Our awesome Creator, LORD over all.  Our God is an awesome God.

Lord, You are awesome!  You are worthy!  Help us to not be distracted by the cheap substitute this world offers.  You are beautiful and beyond description.  Capture our hearts to worship You alone!

Worship Wednesday: Paying Attention In an Inattentive World

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Psalm 49: 1-4

1 “Listen to this, all you nations!  Pay attention, all you inhabitants of the world! 2 Pay attention, all you people, both rich and poor! 3 I will declare a wise saying; I will share my profound thoughts. 4 I will learn a song that imparts wisdom; I will then sing my insightful song to the accompaniment of a harp.“

As a singer/songwriter, this verse is precious to me.  When I write songs of worship to God, I am caught up in how awesome He is and how to reveal Him to whoever listens to my music.  In everything I do, I want to convey God’s amazing grace, truth and love; to express His word in a way that can reach someone to understand God more.  It is this hunger that drives me on: to know Him more and make Him known.

Music has a way of grabbing our attention more than mere words.  Singing new songs also helps us to worship when we have grown accustomed to listening to the same worship songs.  We can also listen inattentively and not recognize the impact music is having upon us.  It has been said by some that they do not listen to the lyrics, just the music.  But we are more complex creations than that.  We are able to retain a lot of information and might not even be aware of it.  What we listen to matters.

When I was in college studying music, I wrote a research paper on the profound effect music has on plant life.  I was astounded that even plants wilted when hard rock music was played.  (Smile).  Humans are likewise affected by music, yet in even deeper ways.

The company we keep in media is either corrupting us or discipling us in our walks with God.  There are so many distractions today, so many things beckoning for our attention.  Which entertainment will we choose?  Music that helps us to understand and worship God more, or music that numbs us to His existence?  Movies or television that inspires us to be more like Christ, or awakens our flesh to become more carnally minded?

He has entrusted the secrets of His kingdom to us and we must prove faithful.  Even in seemingly small decisions, He is LORD over it all.   May we pay attention to what surrounds us and choose to place in our path songs, words and media that cause us to walk in purity and joy in the LORD.  Like the Psalmist, may we seek to go deeper with God so we can share with those around us more of the depth of the riches we have in Christ.

Lord, in all I do, I want to glorify You.  Help us to honor You and to never grow weary us seeking You diligently in every area of our lives.

Worshipful Wednesday: What We Wear in His Presence

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Psalm 29:2

“Acknowledge the majesty of the LORD’s reputation! Worship the LORD in holy attire!”

1 Timothy 2:9

“Likewise the women are to dress in suitable apparel, with modesty and self-control. Their adornment must not be with braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive clothing,”

1 Corinthians 6:20

“For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.”

Deuteronomy 22:5

“A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor should a man dress up in women’s clothing, for anyone who does this is offensive to the LORD your God.”

Revelation 19:8

She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen” (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints).

The church has become not just relevant today, but casual and cool.  The uniform can include ripped jeans or revealing clothing, and it’s all fine before our forgiving, accepting God.  Or is it?  If I were to go before a King, how would I dress? How is this applied before a King in Whose presence we are in continually?

I fear that this post today can be taken as legalism or liberality.  Yes, I like to examine both sides of an issue.  There is liberty in Christ, but what do we use that freedom for?  There is forgiveness, but do we abuse that lavish gift by not recognizing the magnitude of such a sacrifice?  The application of this principle of modesty is multiple and varied across denominations.  Some espouse that a woman must wear a head covering or specify the exact articles of clothing that are mandated or approved, while others think it is permissible to dress to be “hot”.  Some clothing specifications are what man requires and some standards are needed by organizations – but what does God require?

Establishing specific rules of clothing can be heaping false righteousness onto what God’s standards are.  I have been there – admittedly, I felt self-righteous when I used to wear my gunny/potato sack dresses.  Add to that the nerdy clogs to go with the dress and bingo – I was holy!  Well, the outward might have been perceived as holy by some people’s standards, but the judgmental attitude toward others might not have been so holy.

Don’t get me wrong – God does have a standard for clothing.  The Scriptures above testify to it.  The principles are spelled out, but we can add or subtract to those principles and attempt to condone our decisions in what we wear by either utilizing the “Legalistic” or the “freedom in Christ” doctrines.  We can think we have a right to dress in a worldly way or the opposite extreme – that we must dress like a monk, and miss the point entirely.  The righteous person avoids all extremes.

What we wear matters to God, because often underneath our decisions of what we wear is a heart issue.  It is not the outward that God looks on, but the inner man.  More than our daily choices, He wants our hearts surrendered to Him. When we make our clothing a matter of focusing merely on the outward and become judgmental of others, who in faith wear jeans, for instance, we are no longer operating in grace.  We have made clothing our righteousness.  Each one of us answers to God alone in our decisions in this life.  Yes, every deed, every word, every motive will be weighed by Him alone.

What are we to wear then?  Common sense and a sensitive heart to the LORD consider how to promote purity.  Style is irrelevant to ensuring our undergarments remain underneath our attire and our private parts are, well, kept private.  When in doubt, don’t.  Pray about it – yes, even small matters can pose a stumbling block to others.  Can we let go of the need to wear something ungodly when our pride, seeking attention or fitting in are obviously the motivations?  If we go before Him honestly, He will lead us.  Will we follow?  He who is faithful in small matters will be faithful with much.

When we come before a Holy God, Who is the King of kings, more than our clothing we should wear gratitude and praise for our King and rise above the culture’s emphasis on the outward. In fact, even choosing what we wear is worship when we acknowledge Him and dress in a way to please Him.

Ultimately, we are clothed in Christ’s righteousness and want to honor Him.  If we are His ambassadors, we want to dress in a way that displays him to the world.  Different, maybe, but I do not want to cheapen His majesty.  We are arrayed in the most beautiful covering of all – Christ.

Lord, may our actions and decisions within this culture we live in always be about glorifying You.  May we speak, act and dress in a manner worthy of You.