It was a dry day, one in which the skin on your fingers and hands cracked under the slightest of movements.  Washing hands after using the restrooms no longer was appealing since the soap from the dispensers was seen as the greater evil; it was done solely for hygienic reasons and not for comfort.  As the soap and water was washed, you exit the restroom and read a sign above your head, “Open door slowly.”  With the next meeting on your mind and the dry cracking hands, you disregard the warning and open the door.  Wham!  Straight into the janitor’s feet comes the swinging door.  Sheepishly you do your best to apologize and see if there is anything you can do.  No, you have done enough.  Did you learn your lesson?  Probably not, but you do feel bad.  The next time you open the door you might think twice-but only for a little while-and then you go about your week.

Signs are a hindrance sometimes.  I know they bug me.  One of my least favorite signs is “Golf Cart Crossing.”  That means I have to slow down even though I have never seen a golf cart nearby, even at two in the morning.  But some signs serve an incredible purpose for each one of us.  Near my neighborhood, there is a sign on one of the streets that says, “Deaf Children at Play.”  If that doesn’t make me slow down, I don’t know what will.

Other signs may not be written, but they are definitely there.  One sign that is easy to ignore, though we know the vast importance of it, is that we are to “pray without ceasing.”  But that sign is a little confusing as we don’t know what that implies nor means.  The direct manifestation of praying without ceasing seems somewhat elusive, and so we ignore that sign.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s an incredible sign, but like the speed limit, it seems we obey that one only when an officer is around.

Another sign, like the one close to my neighborhood, screams at us each time we read it since more times than naught our lives are in direct conflict.  James 4.10 says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”  Spiritually it seems, my hands are dry and cracked.  My heart is calloused and weak, and pride continually creeps upon my psyche.  Lies are sung from my lips; the chorus of my life echoes the praises of my own little kingdom, and I search and scratch for significance in the wrong areas.  Humbling myself seems too dry and weary, and the sign I ignore about my day sometimes spells disaster.

But the door of our lives stares bleakly at us each day.  Heed the signs.  Obey the rules.  They are not for condemnation; quite the opposite actually.  Though we love so little, we have been loved dearly, and the signs on our doors echo at us through the ages.  The grace filled statement, “Humble yourself” is beckoning us to start anew each day.

Visiting the bathroom as I inevitably do, an incredible thing happened.  As I opened the door slowly, a little boy no older than five years old was on the other side trying to open it as well.  It seems as though there is a little pre-school that uses this restroom during specific times of the day.  The sign took on an entirely new meaning with so much more significance than it first seemed.  And so the praise goes on each day as the love signs show us, that though we don’t know what is on the other side of the door, they are imperative to obey.  Though our souls at times are cracked and dry, read the sign on the door before you leave.  “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”  And don’t forget to “open door slowly.”

Amos 4.4-5, “Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more.  Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years.  Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings—boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do,” declares the Sovereign LORD.”

Amos here is following a pattern of assembly given by the priests of the day.  Psalm 100.4 gives evidence of this when it says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.”  But Amos mocks the Israelites by twisting precise words.  He calls them to “sin…and yet sin more.”  The problem Amos is pinpointing here relates to the “pious” person bragging about what they are giving to God.  You see, their motivation wasn’t so that they could honor God, but a selfish desire so that they could be seen by others.  They loved to boast about the greatness of their gifts.  Basically, their worship had little to do with glorifying God…they were way more concerned about honoring themselves.  Amos implies that this sort of worship will not please God or keep him from destroying their temples and altars.

The problem with the Israelites was that their worship wasn’t based on a relationship with God; rather, it was based on a relationship with self.  They weren’t asking, “How should I respond to God and what He has done?”  They asked, “How good do I want to feel about myself?”

Worship traditionally is defined as the act of attributing worth to something.  When people worship God, they give him the praise and glory that is due a sovereign and Holy King of the universe.  And throughout the years God has provided for us different ways of worshiping that are culturally significant and still meaningful to him.  However, since some new testament churches worshiped God in unacceptable ways as in Romans 14.16-18 or Hebrews 12.28, we know that God rejects certain attitudes and activities in worship.

Worship must be a response to God’s initiative of salvation and revelation.  It must be directed towards God and not something that just makes people feel good.  E. Underhill says that “Worship may be judged by the degree in which it leads to Holiness.”  Does your act of worship leave you in awe and submission that you can’t but change to be more like your Creator?  As we can recall from Moses and his bowing of his head to the ground when God spoke to him in the burning bush, along with numerous other examples; worship was a humble response to the presence of Israel’s Holy God.  What else is there to do?

We can conclude from this that worship does not gain something that people can earn from God.  It is a loving response to what God has already freely given.

So what must we do?  We must evaluate our worship. It is important to look at our worship both corporately and personally and ask if we are honoring God in our services.  There is no in between option.  We can’t both honor God and honor ourselves.  We have to carefully scrutinize why we do the things we do in our corporate and personal worship.

Worship is either good and honoring to God or it is sinful.  If we are honest with ourselves, most people will admit that they have been in worship services where they are preoccupied with other things and not focused on worshipping God or they sing praise without truly meaning the words they sing.  Although most people look at these things as inappropriate or unfortunate, we don’t necessarily look at these things as acts of rebellion.  Its harsh, but is there any other way?

The purpose of worship is not to earn points with God; as if we can do something or demonstrate something that will somehow gain his favor in our lives.  Worship is outwardly focused to God and not inwardly focused on the worshipper.  There is no place in our services for declaring to others what we have done or how much we have gained.  Worship is a verb that describes what people do to honor God; it’s not a passive activity where people are entertained by performers.

No anxious bride would go to her wedding without hours of careful thought and preparation for the wedding day.  No athlete would enter a competition without practices and daily drills to prepare.  In everyday life, people know that preparation is key in all aspects of life, especially if anyone hopes to accomplish any significant goals.  And the higher the goal, the more money, time, and energy is put into making the decision or action.

For certain, there can be no greater thing than pursuing God.  Why do we not demand the same amount of preparation and intention when we come to God in worship?  If God is high, Holy, amazing and the greatest goal there ever was and is to be attained, how do we approach God in our daily lives?  What is our response to Him?

This made me weep