The Sound of Sheer Silence

Silence is not something we are good at. We sleep with the TV on, the radio is always on in the car, and iTunes is constantly at work. Have you ever walked into a store and noticed that there is no music playing in the background? It is really uncomfortable! Why is that? It is because we are not good at silence. It is a rare moment in our lives when we let silence completely envelop us, but I'm guessing you remember those moments. It is often in those moments when we feel closest to God. For one thing we can hear Him more clearly when there are not 100 other things to drown Him out. Bill Hybels asks this question: "Is the ambient noise level of my life low enough for me to hear the whispers of the Lord?"

But some of us just can't keep quiet for anything. Maybe it is because we aren't spending enough time in the presence of God. Andrew Murray says, "The very thought of God in His majesty and holiness should silence us."

I know it is easier said than done. "There is so much to see and hear in this busy and media-flooded world of satellite television, home cinema and the internet. We need seasons of the soul in which we somehow find space away from the noises of everyday life and still our heart to perceive the intimate whispers of God." Why do you think people go on retreats into the woods or to a remote beach house? Is it because they hate indoor plumbing? I suppose some might. But for most people it is because they need to get away to 'clear their heads.' They will scale a mountain just to see the view. From the top they see things clearly, things they have never seen before. There is a reason they say it is breathtaking. It is because words won't do it justice, so the appropriate thing to do is keep quiet. They need time to sit in the silence and hear what God is saying to them. Many times people come back from retreats like that passionate about the calling God is placing in their lives. Why? Because they have taken the time to listen!

We need "to find moments and places where we may rise above the noise of twenty-first-century life and give ourselves space for reflection. As a general rule, too much time spend watching television or playing video games will not help us climb higher. If we want to scale greater heights and see further into God, we must find moments when we ascend above every distraction and find an unobstructed view of Him."

Enjoy the Journey

Worship with a Price

When we see Christ for who He is, it demands a response from us. This response is so much more than just, 'hey that guys is pretty great!' It demands sacrifice on our part. When we see Christ, we gladly give Him all we have. We see this picture in Genesis when Abraham goes to sacrifice Isaac on the alter. Most of us have thought about how hard it must have been and how much faith it took for Abraham to take his only son, his son that God promised him, and sacrifice him. But when was the last time you took a look at Isaac's question when they got to the top of the mountain? He says, "The fire and the wood are here...but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" "In other words, 'Everything seems like it's in place, but where's the sacrifice?' That is always a key question when it comes to real and meaningful worship."

Worship always comes with a price. It requires us to give up ourselves and give all we have to God, otherwise we aren't really worshipping. Now that doesn't necessarily mean that we should be miserable during worship, in fact giving glory to God should be a joyous time! But I am saying that "there must be times in our worship services when we cease to say, 'Please give me more' and we start to say, 'It's time I gave You more.'"

Worship should propel us to action. We have a mission to accomplish! "The call on all of our lives is to journey beyond melodies and harmonies, beyond lyrics and poetry." While these are great tools of worship, we can't let our worship stop there. Worship is much more than the strumming of a guitar, the playing of an organ, or the singing of a choir. In 2 Samuel 24:24 David says that he will not sacrifice that which costs him nothing, and neither should we!

Christ's call on our lives is to "live a radical life of love and service-a life that leads to many costly acts of devotion, a life of intimacy with guts, passion with perseverance." William Barclay writes of the brothers James and John: "So then, both of the brothers drank the cup of Christ. Let us see what that cup was. John went to Ephesus; he lived for almost a hundred years; and died in peace full of years and honor. James's life was short, and came to an end swiftly and suddenly through martyrdom by the sword-and yet both drank the cup of Christ. There is a Roman coin, which has as its inscription the picture of an ox facing an altar and a plough, with the words: 'Ready for either.' The ox must be ready for the dramatic sacrifice of the altar or the long routine of the plough. The Christian who dies in one heroic moment, and the Christian who lives a long life of fidelity to Christ both drink the cup of Christ. The Christian...must be ready for either."

My question for you is are you ready for either? What is your worship costing you? Are you living a radical life of love and service? Abi and I just got back from Honduras where the Christians there live a radical life of love and service. They don't even have running water because the Catholic Church shut it off because they don't like the mission of the church in Honduras! You want to talk about what worship costs? It may cost you running water! It may put you in the path of people dealing with death, and it may put you in the lives of your neighbors that you don't really like. Our mission is to spread the love of Christ in every arena, and we can't do that without it costing us something.

"The most meaningful and powerful worship always comes at a price-the whole of our lives placed on His altar." What does worship cost? Everything.

Enjoy the Journey