The Well
The Well |
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Connecting Hope to the Hurting | |
Sunday
June 8, 2008
Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord?
Who may enter your presence on
your holy hill?
Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right,
speaking the truth from sincere hearts.
Those who refuse to slander
others
or harm their neighbors
or speak evil of their friends.
Those
who despise persistent sinners,
and honor the faithful followers of the Lord
and keep their promises even when it hurts.
Those who do not charge
interest on the money they lend,
and who refuse to accept bribes to testify
against the innocent.
Such people will stand firm forever.
Psalm
15
In their book, Unlocking the Secrets of Your Childhood Memories, by Kevin Leman and Randy Carlson, these two Christian psychologists made the point that we can discover much about ourselves by recalling our earliest childhood memory. When I did this I visualized myself in dance class, and I think I was about three-years-old.
The teacher was instructing us on how to hop on one leg. As I began to experiment, I looked around at the other girls and they were laughing and falling into each other. I started hopping in their direction and suddenly felt myself being carried outside by my mother. I can almost smell the stairs as she instructed me that I was to keep my eyes on the teacher and pay no attention to the other children.
The writers of the book say that our earliest memory has bearing on where we are today. I find that to be true. For years I looked at women in the churches I attended, and hungered for someone to be my friend. I was disappointed. Instead of talking about their love of Jesus they were busy putting down other women and complaining about the ministerial staff. I was thrown into a whirlwind of confusion.
So, who can worship God? As the Psalmist implied, those whose eyes are focused on the instructor and the object of our worship ¾ Jesus Christ. One day as Jesus was teaching His disciples, he brought a little child into the circle and began to instruct them on the importance of coming to Him as a little child ¾ in simple obedience and trust. Following this lesson, Jesus taught the disciples the importance of forgiveness. We are to forgive others just as He has forgiven us. We don't always forgive others for their good, but for the glory of God. When we are able to totally let our feelings go about others ¾ we are free to offer ourselves in complete abandon to worship our Lord.
Father, please forgive us today if we have lost our focus. Revive us Lord and allow us into Your presence to worship You. Help us to also see that loving each other is a form of worship too. We need You Lord to free us to love with total abandon and stop throwing so many rocks!
