Apparently God is Irrelevant
Some people groan, or grimace, when those of us who actually went through "the good old days" mention them.
It's not fair.
While we have to admit that not everything in "the good old days" was all that good, there are some things that were good and should always be preserved.
As I read this morning, I could empathize with David when he said: "So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed. I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands of done, I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land" —Psalm 143:4-6, NIV.
The key to distinguishing between the stuff from the past that is better left behind and those things from the past that desperately need to be preserved appears in that little phrase: "I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done…"
It was God who taught his people what the trappings of respect for him should look like, how worship should be conducted, how his ministers should appear before him and before his people in their roles as spiritual leaders. It was God who asked us to give him one day dedicated only to him—these were his works, what his hands put into place. I didn't "invent" those things, they are not just baggage from ancient history that can be discarded as irrelevant like saddle shoes and hula-hoops—unless we believe that God is irrelevant.
It grieves me to see God's people declare God's instructions irrelevant by barely managing to give him an hour of their time on a Sunday morning. It offends me to see his ministers and the spiritual leaders of the church leading worship, preaching his Word, offering service, dressed in sandals and cut-offs.
Our dismal failure to show respect for our God proclaims to a lost world that it has no reason to respect God either. Is it any wonder "seekers" are so few? They are looking, not for what passes as "relevance" today. Genuine seekers are looking for God. My suspicion is that he is hard to find in today's church.
It's not fair.
While we have to admit that not everything in "the good old days" was all that good, there are some things that were good and should always be preserved.
As I read this morning, I could empathize with David when he said: "So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed. I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands of done, I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land" —Psalm 143:4-6, NIV.
The key to distinguishing between the stuff from the past that is better left behind and those things from the past that desperately need to be preserved appears in that little phrase: "I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done…"
It was God who taught his people what the trappings of respect for him should look like, how worship should be conducted, how his ministers should appear before him and before his people in their roles as spiritual leaders. It was God who asked us to give him one day dedicated only to him—these were his works, what his hands put into place. I didn't "invent" those things, they are not just baggage from ancient history that can be discarded as irrelevant like saddle shoes and hula-hoops—unless we believe that God is irrelevant.
It grieves me to see God's people declare God's instructions irrelevant by barely managing to give him an hour of their time on a Sunday morning. It offends me to see his ministers and the spiritual leaders of the church leading worship, preaching his Word, offering service, dressed in sandals and cut-offs.
Our dismal failure to show respect for our God proclaims to a lost world that it has no reason to respect God either. Is it any wonder "seekers" are so few? They are looking, not for what passes as "relevance" today. Genuine seekers are looking for God. My suspicion is that he is hard to find in today's church.
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