Transactional Worship

-
“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”- Isaiah 29:13. Have you ever critically examined the meaning of worship? Worship occurs when we give our deepest affection and highest praise to something or someone. True worship is a valuing or a treasuring of God above all things. Are you a true worshipper? Sadly, there are those who worship their possessions. There are many gods of this world both tangible and intangible. What is the face of multiple gods? There are those for whom their career, a prized title or education is their god. For others it could be their car, or a home, or any object that they value and give their overwhelming attention. As followers of Christ worship should begin with and end in true worship. However, some of us tend to negotiate with God regarding our worship. Our worship experience should never be boring. We should move away from embracing the spirit of transactional worship. The Scriptures says, for God so love the world that He gave His only begotten son to die for the remission of our sins. Christ died for all of us. He did not place any conditions in paying the ultimate price for our sins. Conditional worship is oftentimes rooted in a spirit of expectancy concerning a breakthrough in critical areas of our lives such as family relationships, the workplace, finances, health, and the pursuit of higher studies. Many Christians are betwixt and their minds are very much unsettled. This spirit of confusion or opposition oftentimes robs us of having a true and personal relationship with God once we take our eyes off the prize. Undoubtedly, the prize here is to spend eternal life through Christ Jesus. Transactional Worship. Conditional worship happens when we allow personal preferences to dictate our ability to engage in worship. For some, it can be as petty as having a choir; for others, it is the need for a cutting-edge band or modern visuals. While these elements can enhance our experience, they are not the essence of worship. Those individuals who engage in conditional worship are short changing themselves. The truth is many of us will go off track sometimes. It is very critical as followers of Christ that we develop a framework of accountability in order to hold each other accountable. The biblical verse "iron sharpens iron" (Proverbs 27:17) means that through interactions and challenges, one person can help another grow and become stronger, just as rubbing two pieces of iron together makes them sharper. The need to examine or reexamine ourselves surrounding our worship experience is important. The concept of “iron sharpening iron” obviously implies at least two pieces of iron. It would be impossible for one tool to become sharper without the presence of the other. Genuine accountability demands that the person receiving the counsel or advice is willing to permit friends to look for the vulnerabilities in their lives, to accept what they point out, and then do something to fix it. When we begin to preach that serving God is a means to an end, then we use God. Undoubtedly, God can see through our pretentious mask we often wear to church. Indeed our prayers should be one of righteousness and a yearning and desire that God transform our hearts. We need a spirit of brokenness in order to get off our high horses. The time has come for us to interrogate this skewed mindset that our worship should be hinged on the premise that we worship so long as we think that we will obtain blessings or favors from God. God requires from us expressions of genuine faith and devotion. In the words of John in chapter 4 and verses 23-24, but the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. Wayne Campbell is an educator and social commentator with an interest in development policies as they affect culture and or gender issues. waykam@yahoo.com @WayneCamo ©

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vessels of Honour: Celestial Treasures

-
Image
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”- Psalm 51:10. Many of us have a skewed understanding of God our creator. In many instances we believe or are led to believe that in order to be used by God we must be pure and sinless. This tainted view undoubtedly also impacts our relationships we have with God. Having such a distorted view of God and what God demands from us oftentimes lead us into disobedience. The same is true concerning the weight of condemnation. It is for this reason why it is critical for us to spend time in the Word of God which is the Bible. We all need to know God for ourselves. We often make excuses to study the Bible, yet, we will spend hours on social media or hours gossiping people’s business. Nowhere is gossiping more pronounced than in the church. The church as we know it is not a place of honesty. Why do I say this? Oftentimes we turn to the church in our moments of weakness and vulnerability yet, the solace and compassion that ...
Read more

Insecticides, Air Travel And Safety

-
Image
We are not insects, we are human beings. To travel by air is a privilege. Air travel is a costly adventure as well.   Those of us who have been fortunate to travel oftentimes experience some amount of excitement leading up to that moment. This heightened sense of emotion happens to almost all of us irrespective of whether we are a frequent flyer or a first timer. This buzz never goes away regardless of whether you travel economy or first class. However, for some folks there is a sense of nervousness during travel. There are numerous lessons we can learn whenever we travel. For example, our outlook on life is often altered due to the interaction with other peoples and cultures. Once the airplane takes off and you begin to ascend into the clouds, sometimes of altitude unbelievable to those without this experience, one can feel like someone who is imprisoned until your flight lands and you disembark. It is usually at those altitudes that the airline crew informs you that they are goin...
Read more

Interrogating Black Fatherhood

-
Image
“What I've realized is that life doesn't count for much unless you're willing to do your small part to leave our children all of our children a better world. Any fool can have a child. That doesn't make you a father. It's the courage to raise a child that makes you a father.”- Barack Obama. Fatherhood, especially black fatherhood oftentimes is not as celebrated as it should. As a result we continue to hear of the arguments surrounding my mother who fathered me. There are specific roles concerning the sexes and frankly speaking mothers cannot father children, likewise fathers cannot mother children. Indeed as a society we need to move the discussion away from these examples of oxymoron. This flawed premise has been around so long and unfortunately has become normalized in many societies. However, the time has come for us to have a serious and honest discussion as this argument must be interrogated and replaced with a sense of responsibility. In fact, there is one m...
Read more