James 3:13-18 says, "Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."I love worship. I absolutely love worship.
But I love worship that is real and authentic. I love worship that at times is rough and raw. I love
worship where people take the talent that they have and they simply offer them up to the God who
loves them. And, in humbling themselves before God, He does amazing things through their gifts. When doing this, it reminds me of the song, “Heart of Worship.”\
I’m coming back to the heart of worship, And it’s all about You. All about You, Jesus. I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it, When it’s all about You. It’s all about You Jesus
It’s that sense of humility in worship, a humble offering of everything that we are, that comes to my
mind when I read these words from James. It’s an interesting position for a statement such as this. They come just on the heels of a verses describing the power of the tongue to either bring praise or bring destruction. And now there is this image of wisdom. When we’re connected to the wisdom of God, it will undoubtedly flow from the heart. And when it’s flowing from our heart, we see such things as peace, gentleness, obedience, humility, love. But there’s another side to the picture too. When we don’t have a sense of humility, when we’re not connected to the wisdom of God, it’s also going to show up in our actions. In that case, we’re going to be jealous, sinful and filled with bad ambitions. Maybe that’s why the heart is so important.
Here is a few questions to challenge yourself with: What’s your heart connected to? Is it the heart of
God that we find in true worship? Or is it the heart of the world?
- Haley
