Worship - Intimacy or Extortion?

The problem I see with most of what is called "Worship" is that it just doesn't go far enough! It smacks of immaturity, of infatuation, of people that are just in it for the "feel-goods"! Like teenagers experimenting with "making-out", playing with the fires of romantic love, but who have absolutely no concept of the necessity of building the Home which that fire is supposed to warm! What is called "Worship" today as become so sensual, so shallow, it is more about musical preferences, lighting, comforts, relevance, or whatever, than it is purely and unashamedly about HIM.

God's people seem to want to tease and to play with the idea, of "becoming One with Him", while utterly missing the commitment and devotion which is necessary to actually accomplish the transformation that would facilitate that level of intimacy! They are, in fact, nearly oblivious to the existence of that kind of commitment, nor are they aware of the need for it, nor are they interested in obtaining that awareness! They have an agenda, they have an acquisition list, they know what they want, and they think they know how to get it. Hey, it works on the "'rents", right? It works on our codependent friends, and on that desperate, if temporary, "significant other".

Too many of the people of God, like those teens experimenting with the sexual experience, want only the rush of His presence, the temporary thrill of getting close to real intercourse with Him! Most do not consider what it may cost them if it were to actually happen! Most are not prepared for the responsibility, for the life changes, that will accompany that union! Most are certainly not prepared for loss of the "innocence" of the lower fleshly life - that blissful ignorance of Him which they had - that will be lost to them forever after this kind of encounter!

They are not prepared for the need which they are getting ready to enlarge beyond their wildest imaginings - the addiction, the longing, which they are getting ready to cultivate, to explode exponentially! So not aware, nor prepared for the fact that the flesh will have to die! Most are utterly oblivious to the fact that something does die, in that encounter which gains ultimate LIFE! They have no concept of what they must give in exchange for the experience they are looking for! Until the "deed is done" and the emptiness caves in around their soul like a black hole, threatening to pull them in, and they are confused and alone, wondering what happened?

As the teens in the back of the car, or alone in a room, who get caught up in the rush of physical hormones, emotional longings, and natural - even spiritual - urges that are intrinsic for the propagation of the race, who press on in, having no concept of the realities they are playing with - so many would be "worshipers" throw themselves at God with the restless abandon of a whore in heat! Driven by the need of the moment, or some misguided sense of needing to earn something, instead of seeking intimacy, out of a pure love, for her would-be lover!

Can this be pleasing to Him? To be taken so lightly? To be played with, for our own motivations - that are far less than holy? Is it right that the Royal Sovereign of the universe, who has traversed heaven and earth to ask for our hand, be treated like a cheap prostitute who is offering services for almost nothing; or like a Santa who grants each wish-list passed by him; or like a slot-machine at which one "might get lucky" if one hits it enough times? The very idea is abhorrent, and yet is too frequent a reality.

We need to face the fact that most people have no concept of what "pure" Love - sex - worship or intercourse really is, and no real idea of what they are pursuing, spiritually or physically! Most do not even know that the concepts are interchangeable! Most are being led around by their lower natures with very little resistance! Therefore most people have never had a sexual encounter that did not include an element of shame, and few have ever entered His presence with complete confidence! Furthermore, most never consider that those two experiences are connected! Most never have a hint, that both difficulties exist because purity is missing from the heart, and that lack of purity affects both spiritual and human relationships! But it was never supposed to be so! Most have no concept that relationship on any level is always a spiritual and physical exchange! It can be negative or positive spirituality, of course, but there is always a spiritual exchange in relationship - and especially in any kind of intimacy!

Most tread boldly, unguarded, into intellectual intimacy, thinking the sharing of ideas, hopes, desires, etc. to be "safe" territory. However, intimacy, even on a purely intellectual level, will always, eventually, lead to physical and spiritual intimacy! Souls are knitted together for better or worse! We can not hope to connect with God or anyone else on an intimate level and keep our "safe distance", we can not hope to maintain our utter self-orientation!

To "become one" with a holy God we must allow these impurities to be burned out! To become "one" with another human we must be willing to merge who we are with who they are! We must realize that an exchange must take place! Spiritually we give up our old life to receive His new life! Just as the bride can not possibly go back home with her parents and goon the Honeymoon with her new spouse at the same time - so we can not hope to enter into an intimate relationship with God while keeping our love affair with the world! We must choose! The old life of self must go.

True Worship is little more than a choice to invest it all, everything we have, into this relationship - forever. It is a type of marriage - a covenant - a commitment - on the deepest level - or it is NOT worship! Worship is not a spectator sport, nor is it a take-it-or-leave-it offer, nor is it a menu from which we get to choose the parts that do not challenge us! It is a deep pool of love that we will either jump into and become consumed by, or we must walk away from, remaining dry and empty! It is not the wading pool that we splash about in in most services for ten or fifteen minutes!

This is not meant as a critical analysis for corporate worship - the time restraint in that instance is not an insult to God - corporately. I didn't mean that. However, if that is the only "worship" we have encountered all week, individually, it is a joke and a sham! And an incredible insult! We are playing with matches and it will eventually burn us. This is not how life in God is supposed to be lived, not how it is supposed to look, and it proves that we do not understand worship anymore than those teens in the back seat understand marriage! It is a gross misrepresentation of His intentions, and can not go undisciplined forever! Just as such breeches of trust can not be tolerated in other relationships for long. Eventually selfishness erodes the connections required for Intimacy! As we come to terms with how we have abused this activity repentance is recommended.

Some, of course, have progressed past this phase of infatuation, and have actually "committed all" to God at some point, and have experienced the wonders of holy intercourse with His Spirit at some time in their experience. However, since that time, life has distracted them away from Him, and now they have become much like some married people who have developed unhealthy patterns of relating.

They now take too much for granted, they have become "comfortable", or secure, in the relationship and have settled into only putting in enough effort to get back what they need. They act as though there is nothing wrong with ignoring their mate for most of the week - being inattentive to needs, even ignoring real requests or hints at a need for comfort or help - and then still expecting intimacy (at least physically) on demand! They may have even gotten so self-absorbed in their own problems, at work, or with threatening physical issues, or distractions which show a wrong priority, that they have even been rude or hurtful at the other for even daring to interrupt their self-worship to ask for help!

Yet, come the weekend, they seem to expect intimacy (at least physically - unfortunately these jaded, calloused ones seem to have no real awareness of any other kind of intimacy, and do not understand that there can be no real intimacy that is separated from love in that way)! Of course, after a week of personal abuse, any kind of hoped for intimacy is SO not happening! Then they have the nerve to be mystified, angry and often deeply offended - that their mate is "not there for them" - and this, of course, deepens the cycle of resentment and separation! That is a clear picture of the selfish flesh in action!

But isn't that exactly how we treat God?! All too often, we live for other things all week long - we strive for money, comfort, foods that satisfy whatever particular cravings we have cultivated; we work and strive and plan and sweat to meet whatever emotional and physical and social needs we believe that we deserve, or to accomplish and obtain the things we really want - thereby giving little priority to His Word - much less taking the time to really connect on any deep level with HIM!

Then on Sundays, or whatever time we've set aside to join others in "worship", we show up, all slicked up and "in the mood", and expect Him to show up and really pour His glory on us!? Not realizing that if He did we might burst into flames, because the rotten flesh is highly combustible - and it can not exist, in that concentration, in His presence! Sometimes we walk away in a pout and a huff because He didn't show up! We walk away empty and hurt with Him! Yet, we forget that HE had been there all week, when WE were the ones who didn't show up! He must feel just way that some of our estranged spouses or "significant others" feel. (* a side note: "Significant others" is a sham of a name anyway! If we are not willing to make a legal covenant with them they must not be too "significant"! Just saying....)

But, the point is that if we would have intimacy or significance with anyone at all then we will have to be willing to lay ourselves - our needs, our wants, etc. - aside for the good of the one with whom we would seek intimacy! That includes God! He did not create us just to have something else to do! Who, in their right mind, would create millions of miniature "bosses" for themselves?! We must humble ourselves enough to think of something other than ourselves! He wants us to be transformed into His image, to become ONE with Him! He is always thinking of us! He desires that we always be thinking of Him! That is how worship is accomplished! It can not happen when we are so hung up on ourselves!

Most of us, at least those of us who have lived more than a decade or so, have experienced the excruciating emotional pain that comes from investing ourselves into a relationship - lock,stock and barrel - only to find that the other person withheld an important part of themselves, and now, that they have gotten what they wanted from us (an ego boost, the physical fix they needed, monetary or social help, or whatever) and aren't all that interested in US after all! That is such a crushing blow! To find that they've only put in the effort needed to get what they wanted from us, used us to their convenience and satisfaction, and then they've just disconnected and moved on! Sometimes they will circle back and "hit" us again, if we allow that cycle to continue, if we do not have the boundaries needed to close that door on them! And each time they do, when the pulling away happens, again, we are devastated!

This is why the Word instructs us to guard our hearts! We are not taught this well, so we do not learn it easily, nor do we teach it well! Thus, it continues to be a flaw in the lower nature that we do not know how to recognize, much less cultivate, real love! That is why we need His transforming love! That is why we need to pour out our flawed lives to receive His perfect life! We can not receive His Love - or the love of anyone else - without being willing to give our own! It just - can't - work. Love is a completely interactive concept! It can not work in or with selfishness - the two concepts are diametrically opposed! So even though risk is necessary in love, we still need to be able to have discernment, to evaluate the motives of the one to whom we are considering giving ourselves - and we only learn, or are able to access such "discernment" with the help of His Spirit, that kind of discernment is not possessed, nor able to be accessed, by the lower nature! But, nonetheless, we need to learn how to count the cost of such an interaction! "We must learn that we must pay the piper if we would dance.", it is said.

When will we realize that He is worthy of what ever that price might be! He has earned our commitment! He will never leave us or forsake us! He has already invested all He has into this relationship! He deserves more than Sunday drivers and fair weather friends! He deserves more than gamblers and thrill-seekers! He deserves a committed bride, who is pure of heart and who has made up her mind that He is the only one worthy of her full attention, her intimacy, her heart and soul. He is worthy of Worship!

Besides, Worship is the only place in which we can feel truly secure, will ever be truly at home, and can ever expect to be truly safe and fulfilled! We love to quote truisms, such as, "He is either LORD of all, or He is not LORD at all!", but we act as though we have no concept what they mean! No place does the truth of our ignorance of these ideas become more evident than in how we worship Him - or do NOT worship Him, as the case may be!

So we need to ask ourselves, what this relationship is worth to us? If we have not been investing in real intimacy with Him, perhaps we should ask the hard questions about why that is? And then we need to face up to the fact that we've just been fooling ourselves, and stringing Him along. That we have never made the choice, have never accepted His proposal, have never really entered into a covenant of intimacy with Him.

Though He is the "Friend that sticks closer than a brother"; He does not want to be "just friends". He does not want an "eternal dating" relationship which never progresses to the next level! He certainly does not want to just "use and lose us"! He is after a forever covenant, which is expressed in Worship - frequently. He wants us to "Fall in Love" and lose both our hearts and our heads over Him! He wants an all committed bride - for a fruitful union!

He does not want a hot-house plant, for a one night stand! God is not interested in hookers, flirters and deserters, He wants a holy bride. Will we prepare ourselves for that union? Do we even want to? Do we even get it? Most avoid reading the Song of Songs, that is attributed to Solomon. In my observation that is because most can not get past the flesh's sordid images of those relationships, too busy drawing dirty pictures to grasp the purity of Love which He was after there! But a closer, Spirit led, reading of this passage will reveal His heart for us.

Clearly, we need to leave the gutter of the flesh and come up higher! Worship is for the pure in heart, and it is said that those are the ones who will see God! Seeing, really seeing someone for who they are,is intimacy, and that is true worship. God is still looking for those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. Is that us? Are we going to clean up and show up and accept His stunning proposal? Or are we content to continue to deceive ourselves and others, while using Him and His processes to get our "feel goods", or to relieve our spiritual stress? He wants to live His Life with us, and in us! Can we really be stupid enough to refuse Him?

In that love story found in the writing, "The Song of Songs", the bride cries out, "Draw me, and I will run after you!". That should be the cry of our hearts right now! Yes, these are dark times, but through the darkness comes the King of Light to rescue us! Surely we will not stay in our cave of imaginary comforts as He rides away! Surely we will realize the value of a covenant with this King! The greatest love story of all time revolves around our ability to discern and participate in true worship. It is time to stop taking it all so lightly. It is time to determine if what we are calling "Worship" is loving Intimacy or selfish, fleshly Extortion? And, if it isn't the answer we'd hoped for, to find a place of repentance before it is too late? Let's don't be the five foolish virgins...let's stop fooling around and be ready for our groom.

Selah...