Worship Scale - First Entry

Brothers and sisters, if you're not already please include in your daily studies Old and New Testament readings.  For while we are undoubtedly under a new covenant through Jesus Christ (which is fulfilled in the New Testament), the Old Testament expands our understanding of why Jesus' act qualifies us to obtain the privilege to have a relationship with and to worship Jehovah.  It also nullifies ideals such as levels of worship; as worship (just like a pleasing relationship with God) is either on or off.  And lastly, the Old Testament provides the information needed to encourage all of us to move past the "for every mountain You brought me over" phase and to the "because of who You are phase".  Which of you parents would want their childs' love for you based on what you gave them for Christmas 17 years ago?

Let's look at the first point I presented - Jesus' sacrifice clears us to be able to have any dealings with the Lord God.  Just to be clear, sin, no matter how intentional or careless, results in spiritual and physical death (Romans 6:23).  Graciously, God gave all humans an opportunity to correct the wrongdoings before He made grave decisions.  But before Jesus, these opportunities came in the form of blood sacrifices with animals.  Throughout the book of Leviticus are explanations of the regulations of what was financially and physically required for a person to atone for trespasses.  The holiness of God is so tremendous that regular and scheduled sacrifices were to be made; because sinning for mankind was and is unavoidable.  Just like now, I'm sure then everyone wanted something from God.  So you can imagine the tedious work of rounding up goats or birds and the horrific sights of stabbing them, wringing their necks, and watching animal blood pile up in pools...all to have access to praise His Holy Name. 

But because this information is rarely covered, the picture of it is lost.  The result is millions of Christians viewing Jesus' death on the cross as a myth.  And the evidence of that is in our Sunday morning worship services across the country; where choirs and praise teams have to perform (and perform well) for church patrons to lift their hands to honor Jesus.  He who made it possible for us not to buy and kill animals weekly so we can even have our prayers heard is greeted with "it don't take all that to praise God" when we perceive nothing bad is really going on in our lives.   People sit down when worship songs are sung and judge choirs' talents for range and pitch.  All of this instead of honoring He who gave His life so we would have to take lives to just talk to God.  So even though we shout when told, our heart didn't lead the shout.  That's not worship at all and is parallel to an atheists' behavior.

Today, let's recognize that He did what we couldn't, and what was ineffective in securing an everlasting love from God the Father.

Peace