"One of the primary ways we worship God is through proclaiming His glories, perfections, and works. But another equally significant way we worship God is through building one another up through encouragement and blessing. Different activities, but the same end." (p. 178)
There are times in church services that I forget that God has called us to "Speak to one another with Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs." (Ephesians 5:19a). We get so caught up in the vertical plane (our relationship with God) that we forget to move in the horizontal plane (our relationship with those around us). God is honored when we encourage each other. We worship Him when we show love for, pray for, and serve each other. When we come together to worship by singing praises, taking communion, and learning from Scripture we aren't supposed to be a bunch of separate individuals who are looking only for a one on one experience with God. Individual experience is involved, but we are to be His body with all the different parts working together to bring Him glory (1 Corinthians 12). If the body is thirsty doesn't the hand bring water to the mouth? If the body needs to move won't the legs move the body where it needs to go? The body of Christ is meant to function as a single unit that all works together for the Glory of God.
The next time we come together as the body of Christ, as we participate in our vertical relationship, let's also try to keep our eyes open to the ways that God might want us to participate in our horizontal relationships. Let's look for ways to encourage, pray for, and serve one another and in doing so worship and bring glory to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment