To Be a Child

There is a certain innocence about children that adults can clearly see, but not always fully understand. Children are wise, aware, and incredibly understanding - yet they maintain a certain air about themselves that leaves adults wondering, desperately straining to remember what it was like to be so... free. We have forgotten what it is like to be a child.

This desire stems from the seed that God has planted in the heart of every single man and woman who has ever lived. God created Man to worship Him, and so He has given every man that urge - though it may be satisfied in ways God had not intended. To worship is "to feel or express reverence or adoration." To worship is to be like the child who stands before his parents in adoration. To worship is to look upon the face of God with such love-struck awe that it impossible to be stolen away by anything else. It is not a matter of music. It is not art. It is 100% pure and innocent admiration and adoration offered up by the creation to his Creator. It is the call upon each and every one of our lives - why we were made: to worship the God who created life itself.

Those who enter the Kingdom of Heaven will enter "as a child." Not literally in the form of a child -- I can't imagine Heaven being like a giant playground -- but with the heart of a child. We enter through Heaven's gates with a heart that is so pure and untainted by the distractions in this world that all we desire to do is to look upon the face of our Maker. To stand before Him and hear that He is proud of us and pleased with what we've done is, like a child, our greatest pride and joy.

Worship, therefore, is the most passion-filled act that any person on this earth can do. It is the source of where we find purpose on this earth. It is the privilege of heart-felt communion with God Himself, and He delights in it just as a father delights in his children.

God has called worshipers who will worship Him "in spirit and in truth." Not "in jumping and in solid harmonies." This is not to say that music or jumping is bad - it is just not, in my opinion, the source of worship itself. It is simply in those forms that the outpouring of praise and adoration happen -- it is the avenue by which we can express our pure love and adoration and awe to God. And it is in this true worship that He delights. A tongue-tied toddler's worship is, if offered in spirit and in truth, more pleasing to God than the worship of incredibly talented, yet heartless, worship bands.

That is my aim as a worship leader -- not to be focused on the music so much as where my own heart lies; whether, based on the position of my heart, my worship is worthy of God's ears. It's hard. I'm such a perfectionist (and musician) that I really desire the music to be as great as it possibly can be -- however, God desires a heart of worship. Music will come later. All I have to do at this point is be as a child, and God will handle the rest.

Life Lessons on the Playground

I'm sure you remember the swings. As soon as the bell went off, they were everyone's first priority. Especially considering that you KNEW that if you didn't book it there, you've lost your chance for the day's fun. Swings were (and still are) incredible.

I was driving home last night, just thinking about life, when I realized something extraordinarily simple, yet (to my knowledge) true: relationships are like the swing set.

Sounds strange - let me explain. As an experienced swinger (keep it clean), I understood the terms used when certain events occurred on the swings. My main example is the term "married." Once myself and the person swinging next to me were perfectly in sync, our automatic response was to shout, "WE'RE MARRIED!!"

Interestingly enough, this tends to be how relationships work. When you and another person are to be perfectly in sync with one another (and actually enjoy it), a solid relationship is formed. Seems simple enough.

Uh oh. Crisis. You're not the same person. You will get out of sync. It starts slowly, then becomes more dramatic and, next thing you know, you're not "married" anymore. Considering that (at least on the playground) the longer you're married with someone, the better swinger you are (again... keep it clean), we would do everything in our power to stay in sync. As soon as we became out of sync, we both made incredible efforts to get back in sync as soon as possible. We had to change the way we were moving and thinking so that we could get back on track. The earlier we caught ourselves, the faster we got back into a "marriage" that all the other kids on the playground wish they had.

I feel like we underestimate the wisdom that can be found in the simple way children think. It's important to understand that everyone has knowledge to share, whether it be the 87 year-old couple sitting in Starbucks or the seven year-old girl who loves being married on the swings.







Proverbs 5:18 _ May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.