New Kids on the Block: one of the first boy bands of my youth. I remember sitting in front of the tv, calling my friends and going crazy for them….worship, idolizing???
I often forget that the desire to worship is innate. I heard “Clear The Stage” by Jimmy Needham some time ago and promised that it would be a part of my next musical devotion because of how easily idols creep into my life.
The following is my paraphrase of the very real and piercing lyrics: It begins with a challenge to clear your life of your idols. Remove the fluff, the approval-seeking motives…. Remove the busyness, the time-wasters, and get the root of your struggles and issues until you are broken. This calls for bravery, but promises liberation as well.
Before I can go on, the question is, “what is an idol?” Most of the definitions I find have something to do with religion, which is really a repetitive practice of some kind.
The definitions also allude to devotion, admiration, an image of something physical, but without substance and a figment of the mind….
Interesting, in this part of the world and time period in history, we don’t picture ourselves prostrated in front of a person or object. Most of us wouldn’t be caught doing that. Therefore, those definitions match us perfectly. An image, lifestyle, or desire that we project in our own minds. One that might or might not be “real.” Then, we devote ourselves to ‘it’ or ‘them’ religiously with our time, energy and emotions. That is an idol.
So the song goes on….go after God. Pursue the only Being that can be counted on. Counted on to know what is best, so wait for what He has for me. He promises things that nothing this life can promise me. I must place my hope in Him.
(Not an easy thing for people who want to see to believe, people who have counted on themselves for too long…can we really count on ourselves? Our emotions are fickle, how truly honest are we with ourselves….do I really want to place hope in myself? I mess up way too much!)
The song goes on….this is where it really hit home. I can sing, raise my hands up, pray before class begins, pray with my family, read my devotions every morning…etc., but I can still get it wrong because “worship is more than a song.”
I regress to my tween years: pictures of…River Phoenix, Michael J. Fox, Jason Bateman, Ricky Shroder, John Travolta, Kirk Cameron, Duran Duran…all over my walls! (Yes, I am an 80’s Baby) My friends and I talked about them, collected more pictures, role-played that they were our boyfriends, obsessed over them when they were on tv. Do I have that kind of admiration and devotion for Jesus? Am I obsessed or in-love with Him? Why not? Probably because I am wrapped in this flesh that I submit to consistently. I want love now, I want gratification now, it’s all about me.
Living in the Spirit, however, changes your whole perspective, your worship becomes how your life plays out, day to day….not just a song you sing or things on your ‘to do list.’ The song says to forget the plans and sit at home, wait for God to whisper to you. It doesn’t matter how I just messed up a few minutes before when I yelled at my kids, He is waiting for my eyes to turn to Him so that He can whisper to me, to you, whether you believe in Him completely or not.
Ask Him to speak to me, stay on my knees until they blister….I want Him to shine a light into the darkest parts of my heart and soul. Expose them and start to heal and change me so that I can be free. Search and pursue the truth, not just take it for granted. I want Him to shake up my comfortable world.
I find myself devoted fully to my family and work…many times more than my Savior. These things become my idols. Family and work are noble things, but they cannot make the promises that my Savior makes to me. They will not fulfill me as He does.
The song goes on to help me categorize the idols in my life:
*anything I put before my God: work, sleep, food, relationships…
*anything I want with all my heart: good marriage, successful children…
*anything I can’t stop thinking of: having a good marriage,
*anything I give all my love to: family
The fact that my devotionals are all attached to songs is ironic to my devotion today. I love music and it is how I very often express my worship. However, worship, adoration, admiration and devotion for my Savior must seep through me as I walk, talk, observe, read, listen, play, discuss, teach, give, eat, fold clothes, cook meals, make decisions, iron, pay bills, make phone calls, do groceries, laugh, cry, sing and dance!
Surrounded by songs of deliverance,
Denise
*I choose to worship–the One I can trust with my life, My Savior
(Thought I’d include some of the 80’s boy craze for the ladies from my generation!)
"..His Song is with me.." 