Dec 6, 2018
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on
earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, (worship the
Lord)… Rev 5:13
The question isn’t whether
you will worship God … the question is when & how you will worship Him.
Working in a garage, I often hear mechanics remind people of
the dangers of poor maintenance: You can pay me now, or pay me later. Their point was clear – saving a few bucks now
by delaying oil changes, tuneups, and other maintenance activities only costs
much more later.
That same principle applies for many things in life. Things like equipment and home maintenance,
relationship maintenance, career maintenance, and more --- all fall under the
same truth. Interestingly enough, our
spiritual life works much the same way.
A delay in spiritual maintenance only costs us more later.
Revelations is a book that shows us the ‘pay me later’ of life. John
is privileged to see what that end costs us, and in Chapter 5 we see what
worship looks like. Notice in this verse
how everyone is worshipping God … there’s no differentiation between believers
and unbelievers, nations, different faiths, or anything else. Everyone will worship – period!
But it’s the cost that is noticeable. Some will worship God in heaven, some will be
on earth, or even under the earth and in the sea (dead and unaccepted in
heaven). Everyone will worship God with
all they have, but those in heaven will benefit from the worship, and those
outside of heaven will only grieve that they didn’t worship God
beforehand. It will be those in heaven
who worship God in freedom and joy. It
will be those everywhere else who worship Him in regret and pain.
Yet even knowing that, many people treat worshipping God
like they do maintaining their cars & homes & relationships. If worship is inconvenient, or costs
something, or doesn’t fit the schedule, it is delayed and put off until another
time. Eventually, the engine of our spiritual
life breaks down, and we find ourselves weak and defeated, complaining to God
(and everyone else) that this religion
thing doesn’t work. The problem
isn’t God, nor religion. The problem is
we stopped worshipping.
Maybe during the Christmas season, it’s time to re-evaluate
our worship a little. Is our worship of
God truly bringing Him praise and glory?
Are we really investing and engaging in worship when we sing, or study,
or serve? Is worship at the top of our
priority list, or is it pushed down by other more pressing substitutes.
Don’t ruin your spiritual engine. Invest in some regular maintenance. Make time to regularly worship God, and grow
your spirit. Otherwise ---- you be left
to pay God later.
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