Today’s Scripture: Revelation 4:8-11
Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty—
the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.”
9 Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever), 10 the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever). And they lay their crowns before the throne and say,
11 “You are worthy, O Lord our God,
to receive glory and honor and power.
For you created all things,
and they exist because you created what you pleased.”
Today’s Devotional
What is worship? Is it everything that happens before the sermon on a Sunday morning? Is it singing? Music? Is worship supposed to elicit a specific feeling or some state of mind? If we started to delve into all of these questions and started to explore what exactly worship is – we would be here awhile! Books and books and books have been written on the subject.
But our reading today in Revelation points us to one aspect of worship that is undeniable: worship is not about us.
Nothing in these passages shows us that the angels and the elders and the living beings who are worshipping have any other focus than God and Christ. They are all intent on directing praise and glory in one direction and on having a laser aim on the object of worship.
Now, I don’t know about you but when I come into a worship service – especially a VIRTUAL worship service – there are a lot of things on my mind. I bring with me all my baggage from the past week. I might be uncomfortable in the room. I might not be a fan of the song or the way the person is praying or reading. And these days the distractions from watching worship on a screen are enormous. So yeah, it’s hard to focus on something other than ourselves or our situation.
But worship is not us and our distractions. It’s about God. And so, while we don’t ignore the distractions, or try to push them out of mind, or scream at the kids to shut up so we can worship – we do have to find a way to put our focus on God. How do we do that? By handing over to God all those things that are distractions – all those things that are about us – all those things that draw our attention away from the one we worship.
If God is the focus of our worship then we come to God WITH our distractions, WITH our baggage, WITH our emotions. And we say to God – “I have all of this going on with me – and yet in this moment I give it all to you to hold. And now that my hands are free – I can raise them in worship of you. Because you are Holy, Holy, Holy. You are worthy.”
Find a way to have a moment of worship this week – a time when you let God hold what you’ve been holding – and in that moment give all your attention to God, rest in God’s presence, and worship.
This Week’s Immerse Passages:
Week 8, Feb. 22-28: John, 1-3 John, Revelation
Day 36 pp. 424-437 Joh 13:1-21:25
Day 37 pp. 439-452 1 Jo 1:1-5:21; 2 Jo 1:1-13; 3 Jo 1:1-15
Day 38 pp. 453-459 Rev 1:1-3:22
Day 39 pp. 460-471 Rev 4:1-14:20
Day 40 pp. 471-482 Rev 15:1-22:21
Leave a Reply