I’ve said it, and prayed it, quite a few times.  Yesterday, I caught myself.  “Lord, please allow us to drop all of our burdens at the door and come and freely worship you.”  I know what we mean when we pray that.  We want to come to the Lord empty handed and not be distracted by a bunch of junk.  We do not want to be thinking about meatloaf instead of meditating on our marvelous Maker.  But do we really want to lay all of our burdens at the door? 

This way of thinking tends to contradict what Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30: 

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Perhaps Jesus does not want us to “drop all of our burdens at the door”.  Perhaps our act of worship is to come heavy but to leave light.  Jesus does not want you to drop reality and real life at the door, sing a few songs, hear a sermon, and then pick all of your baggage up on your way out.  Jesus wants you to “cast all your anxiety upon him.” 

I am becoming convinced that Jesus really did come to call sinners.  Powerful worship does not happen when clean, put-together people, offer “service” to the Lord.  Powerful worship happens when dirty, broken, sinners find the answer to their brokenness.  Or perhaps we could say that powerful worship happens when clean, put-together people, praise the Lord that brought them out of the miry clay.  Whether you are broken or healed the Lord desires a heart that does not pretend it’s living in Eden; but rather a heart that knows it is not where it is meant to be and is found longing for rescue. 

So, next time you come to worship bring all of your baggage…but don’t leave with it. 

Its always amazing to see the various ways God revealed himself in the Bible. While at worship, Isaiah catches a vision of the wonder of God (Isaiah 6)…..At the end of a season of suffering, Job sees God’s majesty (Job 42:5-6)… Peter is astonished through a great catch of fish (Luke 5:6).

There are those today who think God wants to ‘invade’ our times of worship and reveal himself merely to give us some sort of spiritual adrenaline rush. I don’t see this happening in the Bible, do you? God reveals himself for a purpose……his purpose, not ours. Certainly he wants our praise. But if our praise is genuine will it not include our confession, our repentance, and our surrender to service?

Read the story of the miraculous catch in Luke 5:1-11. The flow of events is fairly simple to see, isn’t it? The word of God is taught…..Apparently the seeds of faith are sown because obedience was rendered…..Christ revealed himself……Confession was offered……Call was given….Commitment was made.

The commitment to leave all behind and follow Jesus was a costly one. “True discipleship is always costly because it means giving up what we want for us so that we can have what Jesus wants for us” (Philip Ryken). Ryken’s comment drives deep into my heart. I know I’m supposed to want what Jesus wants for me……but am I willing both to count the cost and consider it worth surrendering all to Jesus?

I fear that far too many of Christian Americans (myself included) are unwilling to want what Jesus wants for us. If this is true, it is small wonder that the church of our culture is weak and anemic.

Lord,
Plant in me a desire to want what you want for me. Help me to be willing to surrender all I want so that I might have what you want. Give the heart-felt passion for your will and way in my life.

“…no man’s or men’s private understandings, without the aid of that public secretary of heaven, can understand them…he only hid the treasures of knowledge in that field, and he only knows where they lie; what an advantage is it then by prayer to unlock God’s breast, obtain the key of knowledge that unlocks God’s study, and can direct to all his notes and his paper.” 

-Quoted from JI Packer, The Quest for Godliness