Worship wars

This morning's Bible study brought me through 1 Corinthians 13. But before I say what jumped out at me in that chapter, I should back up a bit: Increasingly of late, I have felt burdened to pray for the church in North America. God seems to be responding to the prayers that arise from that burden--that is, responding to me. It's too soon to expect to see any effects in the North American church. But with that growing burden in my spirit, a number of things start coming to my attention. Granted, whatever captures our attention at a given point in time likely colors the other things we see and hear. Still, I think God is using the burden he has placed on my spirit to focus my attention with the other things that come my way.

So, 1 Corinthians 13: Among many other wonderful things Paul says there, he talks about when we were children, etc. (you know the verse). And what came to my focus was this phrase: "when I was a child...I reasoned as a child." So I paused for a moment to ask myself, "How does a child reason?" Immediately the response came: generally a child's basic point of reasoning is this: "I WANT." From the child's perspective, the fact that he/she wants something is reason enough to justify it--whether "it" be a purchase or an activity. "I want a horsey," "I want some candy," "I want that toy," "I want to go to Disneyland," or "I don't want to go to bed!" From the child's perspective, that fact that he/she wants something justifies obtaining the desire.

But why did Paul tell this to the Corinthian church? Because they were still acting like children; they still thought like children; and they still reasoned like children. And I asked myself: To what extent does the North American church still act like children? To what extent, in what ways do I still act like a child?

Then I went to my computer and had an email (a couple days old) that linked me to this article. I urge you to read it. It is a little bit long and gets a little bit bogged down in a couple places. But it was powerful for me. Read about Elizabeth, a Christian girl from SE Asia forced into prostitution, and how Psalm 27 became so meaningful to her. Or read about the pastor in India who saves his few coins over a period of time in order to buy a Christian book on discount.

Then--as I did--ask yourself about the way and spirit in which we worship and what is really important in our worship wars.

God loves you and so do I!

Oh yeah! PLEASE, please, let me know what you think.