Monday Dec 15 Daily Devotion

Advent Conspiracy Daily Devotion
Worship Fully, #3 by Rick Snyder
Scripture: Psalm 95:6-76 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice.

Archbishop William Temple was a British scholar who offered an eloquent statement about the meaning of worship. He said this,

To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind
with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open
the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God. All this
is gathered up in that emotion which cleanses us from selfishness because it is
the most selfless of all emotions--adoration.

So authentic worship concerns transformation. As we read the words in Isaiah 6, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory," we sense the majesty of a God who is, in the words of Karl Barth, "wholly other." As we meditate on Scripture, God’s truth feeds our minds, offering perspective, guidance and hope. As we focus on the beauty of God’s character and grace, we begin to be able to avoid discouragement and cynicism. As we open our hearts to God’s love, and commit ourselves to following Him, we find meaning and purpose.

Worship helps us, then, find life as it is meant to be lived. And finding such life, we respond as does the Psalmist, "Come, let us bow down in worship. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;