Routine or Ritual?

"Sacred routines become empty rituals when we do them out of left-brain memory and not right-brain imagination." Mark Batterson, Wild Goose Chase. Too often we "learn" how to worship God and then it becomes meaningless. Our worship and our prayer become unreal, unfeeling. There is no one way to worship. Our daily lives are worship. When we live our lives in a way that shows God's love, mercy, and grace we are pointing people to Him. We are making Him famous which is an essential act of worship. When we learn how we can't forget why. If we get to the point when we don't remember why we worship we're just going through the motions. Studies have shown that people tend to stop thinking about song lyrics after hearing them about 30 times. I myself am proof of this fact. I make myself listen to the words of songs, reminding myself of their truth and meaning. "He is jealouse for me..." God is a jealous God. As humans we know what jealousy feels like. We all have at least one best friend, or a boyfriend or girlfriend. When that person starts to spend time with other people more than you, those feelings start to take root. But they aren't of God. When they come to me I immediately have to pray. That jealous girl is not who I am so its not what I'm going to do. "He loves like a hurricane I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy..." In southeast Texas hurricanes are experienced. We've all seen the footage of hurricane Ike and the aftermath. We all saw the wind as it blew entire houses over, uprooted trees, and so much other damage. Take that picture and apply that force to the love of God. Only God's love isn't destructive. It builds us up and comforts us. "When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory..." When God's glory eclipses the afflictions we're experiencing- the loss of a loved one, a diagnosis we weren't expecting, an accident- whatever it may be, when those afflictions are covered by God's glory we have the promise of an end. We remember God's promise to never leave us, to provide a way out. "And I realize just how beatiful You are and how great Your affections are for me..." We take the focus off our problems and we see how beautiful God is and how much He truly cares. We see Him standing with us in the midst of the storm. The eye of hurricane Ike passed over my hometown and it was literally the calm in the in the midst of the storm. Above me there was blue sky and clouds, but when I looked further out in any direction there was dark clouds everywhere and lightning striking. I couldn't see the rain or hear the wind whistling but I'd already been through that so I knew what others were getting and knew what was coming. Its in the calm that we realize God is with us and that even though we know whats coming He'll stay with us. He's put us through the storm so we can help others who are still in it. "Oh, how He loves us so..." Kind of self explanatory. God loves us. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. God's love is real. "He is jealous for me. He loves like a hurricane I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy. When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me. Oh, how He loves us so. Oh how He loves us. How He loves us all. "Yeah He loves us. Oh how He loves us. Oh how He loves us. Oh how He loves. And we are His portion and He is our prize. Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes. If His grace is an ocean we're all sinking. And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest. I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way that He loves us. Oh how He loves us. Oh how He loves us. Oh He loves." David Crowder Band, How He Loves.