new post
Posted by Drew | Filed under General
I’m going to see if I can’t breathe life back into this blog. March to December. That’s a pretty long dry spell. It’s not that I didn’t have anything to write about. Half that time was really busy. Half of it was really slow. But no one who knows me well enough to read this blog doesn’t already know most of that anyway. It would take too much time to catch up, so I’ll just start new right here. The post on Worship is from a draft of a prayer letter that I just sent out. Those thoughts got removed from the blog to save space.
Worship
Posted by Drew | Filed under General
I think I’ve learned a lot about what joy is, and where we should find it. The next step will be to learn how to take that knowledge and apply it. As I learn about joy, I am also evaluating my definition of worship. As I share about missions in Italy, I often borrow a pastor’s statement about why missions exist. “Missions exist because worship doesn’t.” It helps to know a little of this pastor’s theology, summarized best in his statement that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” That satisfaction in Christ is necessary to find true joy in Him. And worship, I believe, is the outward expression of our joy. Sometimes it’s in song, sometimes it’s in prayer, sometimes it’s in deed. But I think it ought to always come from the heart in a desire to praise God for who He is. And I think I’m not very good at that. But I want to learn to be. I remain convinced that when any person understands God’s character even just a little bit, then our natural response is praise. And I think the failure to worship is always tied to a misunderstanding about God. And I think the more we learn about God, the more we will want to worship Him. I guess that’s why it’s so important to continue to learn more, to grow, and to be sanctified. I think it’s a process that will teach us to worship better and better until we see God face to face and the worship just pours out naturally, loudly, and uncontrollably. I long for that day. I long to see some of my Italian friends worshiping with me.
