Peter

     Getting ready for next practice, I came across the verses in Matthew 16 where Jesus tells Peter how blessed he is for realizing who Jesus is.  He tells Peter that He will build His church on him.  That would be pretty cool.  Then, just a few verses later, this happens:

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.  Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”  Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matthew 16:21-23 NIV 1984)

     This verse reminds me of two things.  One, I'm not the only one who has a great moment, followed by a really bad one.  Also, the enemy tries to distract us from the things of God by getting us to focus on the world around us.  While it is important to be aware of our surroundings, Jesus and His kingdom should be our focus.

True Worship

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.’”
-Matthew 15:8-9

As I memorized those verses, they made me think of a song called "Heart of Worship"...

I'll bring you more than a song
for a song in itself is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart...

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
where it's all about You, all about You Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
when it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus

Another song that came to my mind is "Clear the Stage" by Jimmy Needham. Part of it goes like this:

"Take a break from all the plans that you have made, and
sit home alone and wait for God to whisper
Beg him please to open his mouth and speak and pray for
real upon your knees until they blister...
Shine the light on every corner of your life until the
pride, and lust, and lies are in the open
Then read the word and put to test the things you’ve
heard until your heart and soul are stirred and rocked
and broken
Cause you can sing all you want to
Oh you can sing all you want to
You can sing all you want to, and still get it wrong
Oh worship is more than a song"

It's true. Worship is so much more than a song. God isn't after a talented voice or a perfect song. He wants our hearts to be in it. And we can worship Him in so many ways that go beyond singing. We can worship God by giving Him our best effort and praising Him at all times in Bible quizzing. Even obedience in little things can be an act of worship. In Romans it says that surrendering our lives as living sacrifices to God is our act of worship.

Mainly what I got out of these two verses is that God cares more about the heart than the song- He said, "their hearts are far from Me... they worship Me in vain."

God knows our hearts. Let's worship Him with everything we do, because He is worthy!

Post-Meet Musings.

Hey Lighthouse!

     So Fox Island is over, and it was a really interesting meet.  I know Lighthouse 1 nearly made it to finals in spite of a rough first night, Lighthouse 2 was in Consolation A, and Lighthouse 3 made it all the way to Consolation B finals.  Congratulations to all the teams on their excellent statistics.  They're pretty impressive.  But while I was in the middle of this meet (night one, more specifically) I was reminded by Matthew 6:33-34 that our success is not measured by numbers, but by how we glorify God and seek to serve Him with our quizzing.  It's His sport, after all, being based on His word.  So while the numbers say one thing, we must of course fix our eyes on Jesus and remember that His love stands through everything and is what enables us to do this.  With Meet number 3 on the way, let's keep that in mind.  Well done everyone.  Have a good week unwinding (or studying, preferably).  See you later,

-J

Matthew 6:33-34
    "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (NIV1984)