Worship

You know, worship is a word that has been abused. When we say worship, most people instantly think of a church service. But, worship is so much more than one hour out of our week! Worship is giving worth to something or to put it in better words, it's where we place the utmost value. What we worship is always easily traceable. All it takes is following the trail of three things: time, money, and passion. Where we spend our money, spend out time, and invest our passion is what we worship. Period.
A lot of times I find myself worshiping my ministry. I spend so much time, money, and passion pouring myself into my ministry to teenagers for God that I neglect the God that I am doing everything for. I push out the appropriate object of my worship for one of my own devising. And yes, that is SO not the way it should be. And I'm a youth pastor! If I'm supposed to lead students to a deeper understanding of and a real relationship with God, how can I do that when mine is screwed up so deeply? I can't! My ministry may be great because God will still use me, but my life with Christ will suck. Horribly. I sometimes feel so far from God because I push Him out! He never leaves me, I push Him away in favor of something I can actually wrap my mind around.
Fixing the imbalance is crucial, but it takes a lot of effort. I can't fix it myself, I need people to hold me to it or I fail. If they aren't willing to hold me up to the standards God sets (and I desire to live by), I need to find people who will! Desiring, passionately pursuing and loving God should be the hallmarks of someone who is in a relationship with Him. Why do we instead forge ahead by chasing after things? Why is it so easy to switch the Creator for the created, to switch ministry for knowing Him, to take our eyes off the prize which is our high calling in Christ Jesus our Lord? I hate knowing how weak I am, yet I revel in it because through my inability and weakness God is glorified. Because when I can't do it, when I can't explain it, it's really easy to show and tell people who did it.
So, the question I'm asking today is who/what are you worshiping? Trace your time down and you'll find it sitting on the throne of your life.
Because time is the one thing we cannot ever gain. Money comes and goes; we can be passionate about something for a time, but passion fades. Time, however, was set when we were made and we'll never get more of. So, what do you spend your time on? Video games? TV? An instrument? A "significant other?" Where we invest our time shows where we worship. Take some time and figure it out, it may scare you.

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