At Christmas time come and Give Thanks! In a world of complaining this command is both refreshing and challenging.
In the Bible there is often a call to worship. Some have said that it is very egoistic of God to command His followers to worship Him, but really, He knows who He is, And He is worthy of our worship. (I mean if we can shout the name of our favorite singer at a concert, who could care less about who we are, why not shout the name of the God that put the breath in our lungs and loves us like no one could…?) Anyways, God tell us to worship because He is worthy of it, but I think also He tells us to worship because we need it! Worship transfers us from the place of victim to victor! While complaining may feel self-justifying for a moment, it also means that your mood, emotions and life outcomes are dependent on very unstable external circumstances.
The call to worship is a call to change our focus. Instead of looking at the mess, you get to shift your gaze to the Redeemer who promises to “work everything for good for those who love Him”, (Romans 8:28) that includes the mean comments from ballet masters, the insane work schedules and unpredictable cast lists. He “makes everything beautiful in its time” (Ecc 3:11).
At Christmas time we celebrate God become man, Jesus, and stepping into our messy, messy world. Worship is not pretending that nothing is wrong, it’s exclaiming that even in a chaos, we have peace, even in heartache we have a reason to rejoice, even in discouragement we have hope. We are not enslaved to the patterns of this world. All of this is because on Gods goodness and love for us. And that is most beautifully seen in Jesus being born in a a dirty stable to bring us Peace. Worship is about love.
We were made to love God and be loved by Him. But if we’re only “being loved” and not loving back the relationship will suffer and we will miss out on living in the reality of His Goodness. His reality is the one we were made for, His presence is where we belong. So enter in! Worship!
