I have a great passion for leading a church in a worship service. I am often thinking about setlists, new songs, service organization/integration with the message, songwriting and countless other ideas that are usually running through my head at any given time.
But I must admit, worship is probably not the number one thing that I am the most passionate about. I’d have to say that my number one passion is sports, specifically football.
I am passionate about worship… but I am overly, substantially, considerably more passionate about football.
I love watching football. College football (Boomer Sooner), NFL (Go Broncos) and just about any other game that might be on TV. I schedule my weekends around game times. I put off working on my honey-do list to watch the game. I’ve convinced myself that my entire family loves football as much as I do. And if for some out of this world reason, I can’t watch the game live, it will be recorded so I can watch it later, and you better not tell me the score if that is the case.
I yell. I shout. I’ve joined in with the chanting of the other fans at the game. I jump around, run through the house, fall to my knees, throw pillows and I have been known to even cry.
All for a game.
A game that (I can’t believe I’m going to say this) doesn’t actually mean anything. I can’t begin to tell you how many people have told me that “it’s just a game.”
When someone tells me that, it usually makes me so angry. Of course, it’s not “just a game.” They just don’t understand. It’s not going to be okay if my team loses. My entire week is going to be worthless. One loss is the end of the season. After a loss (even just a single loss), it’s basically pointless to continue playing for the rest of the season.
Yup, you could probably say that I “worship” football.
This is when I begin to realize that I don’t get this passionate about worshipping God. Not even close. But why?
I don’t think I am the only Christian who struggles with this. Am I?
Why do we simply think that worshipping God by singing songs on a Sunday morning before we sit down and listen to a sermon? It’s so much more than just 10 minutes of mumbling through songs.
I have this quote on my computer to help remind me of this every day:
“Worship is not an event to attend and watch. It is a lifestyle to be lived.” – Rick Warren
If we constrain our worship of God to the four walls of our church building, we are going to miss out on so much. God deserves to be worshipped every single second of every single day. He is worthy of our praise both in and out of the church.
Realize that we have nothing in this life outside of what God has given us.
My house, my job, my family, my health, the food on my table every night and so much more have only come from the grace of God. He has been so good to me; He has been so good to us.
Let’s begin to bring our worship out of the church and let it fill up our lives. We should be living lives that are so full of worship, that other people are beginning to recognize something different.
Join me in living the lifestyle of worship. Let’s be passionate about worship.
Peace and Grace.
Trent Fugitt 