"Worship Is All That Matters"

By: Zach Wood

Revelation 4:11a

You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power.

 

 

When I was a child, I often thrived on being the center of attention.  Anyone in my family will quickly agree to that!  For whatever reason, I just loved having "all eyes" on me.  I often tried to show off to be the center of attention as well.  Through my years of grade school, high school and even into college, I continued to enjoy having times when I was the center of attention.  I would still do things and say things that would bring myself attention.  Whether I told jokes or just did goofy things, I tried anything I could to draw attention. 

 

Sometimes, we do things just to bring attention to ourselves.  We tell jokes, we tell dramatic stories or do weird things that draws people in to look at us.  It is part of being a human being.  We desire attention.  It is not always a bad thing, however, it is only always a good thing either.  It all depends on what we are drawing attention to.  If we are doing something or saying something to draw attention to God, we are doing a good thing.  But if we are constantly drawing attention just to boost our self-esteem or ego, then we need to rethink our motives. 

 

Through the many years I have been involved in ministry, there have been so many situations in which I have been tempted to bring attention to myself.  I have wanted people to notice my gifts and talents.  I have wanted people to recognize things I have done.  The list could go on and on.  However, through the past couple of years, I have done some thinking about attention getting.  This past Sunday morning, as I was playing my guitar and singing in the praise band, I felt something I had never felt before.  As I looked out into the crowd of brothers and sisters in Christ singing, I felt God showing me what is most important in life.  It was not the songs we were singing, the fancy lighting or even the worship leader, but just the fact that people were worshiping.  I felt God saying to me, "Nothing is more important than this....my people worshiping me".  God was the center of attention.  Just the way it should be. 

 

To be very honest, I do not really care about any solos that I do on the praise team or the times I am able to begin a song on my guitar.  I just want to look out and see people having an encounter with the Living God.  I had tears in my eyes as I thought of all this while playing.  I finally realized, this is not about me and my abilities at all.  God does use my abilities, but it is not about me.  It is about me using my abilities to help others come into a closer walk with Christ.  Absolutely NOTHING else matters at all!  It was such a great experience having that feeling while on stage.  It felt right and felt good.  

 

From this day forward, I encourage you to get on your knees daily and completely surrender to God any desire you to have to bring attention to yourself other than bringing glory to God.  There is nothing in this world more important than giving glory and honor to the Almighty Creator of the Heavens and Earth.  He is so worthy of our praise!  When His people have an encounter with Him, that is when Heaven truly rejoices!  

 

I pray that each one of us will have a daily encounter with Jesus Christ and come to realize that worship before His Throne is all that matters in life.  We were made to worship Him and help others come to worship Him.