Worship God Only — He Is the Most Beautiful in All Creation
I have been thinking, praying, and reading about topics for upcoming posts. I want to write posts on: ‘Fire’, ‘Water’, ‘Worship’, and ‘Two Cosmic Lies that Defile the Human Heart’.
‘Fire’, as in the fire of God that Moses saw when he approached the burning bush and the fire of God that fell at Pentecost. ‘Water’, as in Living Water and the well-watered garden and a spring whose waters never fail. ‘Worship’, as in what we give Jesus every day of our lives. And two cosmic lies, as in, “You are not good enough” and, “You can make yourself good enough in your power.” I am still praying and reading about these themes. I can’t tell when I will get around to writing about them, but they are on my ‘radar screen.’
But I do want to share something I found in one of the books I am reading on worship. The book is fantastic. It is, “Worship: the Reason We Were Created — Collected Insights From A.W. Tozer“, written (obviously) by A. W. Tozer. Here are some quotes from that book intermingled with my own thoughts and scripture from 1 John:
“My friend, there are several kinds of unbelief, or rather several phases or facets to unbelief. One of them is that we don’t think we’re as bad as God says we are. And if we don’t have faith in God’s word concerning our badness, we’ll never repent.”
As you know, if you have read some of my posts, I believe that repentance is critical to our life with Jesus. And not just repentance, but being repentant. Repentance is one of God’s greatest gifts of grace, but it is one we must receive and practice every day. I believe that when we repent of finding our ultimate value in the kingdom of self and turn to Jesus and His life in the Kingdom of God, we are essentially ‘born again’.
Tozer goes on to say:
“Then there is another facet of faith. It is this: that we don’t believe that we are as dear to God as He says we are. And we don’t believe that He desires us as much as He says He does. If everybody could suddenly have a baptism of pure, cheerful belief that God wanted me and that God wanted me to worship Him and that God wanted me to pray and admire Him and praise Him, it could transform our Christian fellowship and change us overnight into the most radiantly happy people.”
One of the manifestations of the cosmic lie, “You are not good enough”, is a desperate sense that I must, somehow, make myself better to be worthy of God’s love. When I live that lie, and when the world continuously reinforces that lie, how can I believe that God really, really wants me; that He desires to walk with me in the cool of the garden, calling out, “where are you?”
But if we could, by faith and trust, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, believe in our hearts, and not just our minds, that we are precious in His eyes, we would know joy, peace, and hope. That is the path to being “radiantly (or radically) happy people”. This kind of joy allows us to walk in victory, saying “No” to fear, anxiety, and despair.
And finally, this is my own thought. A third facet of unbelief is misunderstanding or misrepresenting the true character and nature of God. The Apostle John says it best:
“God is light; in Him there is not darkness at all” (1 John 1: 5 NIV).
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!” (1 John 3: 1 NIV).
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for loves comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us; He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us” ( 1 John 4: 7 — 12 NIV).
God is light, there is no darkness in Him at all. God is love. Not just that God loves, but God is love. That is His essential nature and character. He calls us His children and His love, the Father’s love, washes over us. He loves it when we worship and praise Him. Not for what He has done for us, but because of who He is. As I have written before (I think) we don’t come for the healing, we come for the healer. And we don’t come for the gifts, we come for the gift giver. When we see God as He truly is, we can approach Him with joy, hope, and peace. We can shed the lies, “we are not good enough” and He is a “vengeful and malicious God”, and focus only on Him and His radiance and His glory. When we do that, we are set free.
I want to walk in this truth every day — “I am infinitely valuable to God”. Rich or poor, sick or in good health, rejoicing or grieving, living in a palace or living on the street — God knows me and He loves me.
Some final words from Tozer;
“God loves us for ourselves. He values our love more than He values galaxies of new created worlds.”
“When we come into this sweet relationship (through fellowship, friendship, and communion with God through worship and prayer), we are beginning to learn astonished reverence, breathless adoration, awesome fascination, lofty admiration of the attributes of God and something of the breathless silence we know when God is near.”
These words remind me of a Keith Green song I heard last night at an impromptu time of worship:
“Oh Lord, you’re beautiful, your face is all I see. For when your eyes are on this child, Your grace abounds to me.”
Amen and Hallelujah!
With a grateful heart,
John