Day 6 - Center

Worship is all about priorities.

Think about it it though like a solar system instead of like a list. Our lives are made up of a series of concentric circles and Jesus is at the center. When we worship Him, everything revolves around Him; He is the main priority. He, like the sun, gives life, energy, and light to the rest of the things in our life.

Our worship doesn't end with placing Jesus at the center though. It only begins there. We can bring glory to Him by the way that we align the other things in our lives around Him. Priorities are nothing more than a way of expressing value and unfortunately what we say we value is not always what we value with the substance, time, and energy of our lives. Priorities are spoken and put into place with actions, not words. Everyday, we have to be working to align these two priority systems; what is spoken and what is reality. I can't tell you how true this is in my life.

It is very much like this in our worship through songs and music. It is a vocal expression of our ordered priorities, but does it truly reflect the state of our hearts. Is Jesus the center? I think this method of worship can serve as a reminder, a checkpoint, in our lives to help realign us, but that's not all. If Jesus is the center, then He also dictates the order of the other things in our lives. This is why it's so easy to take Him and put Him in orbit around our own desires, because then He doesn't have control of everything else. This is what dilutes our worship to Him, because our priority systems are not in line.

Worship of God is not only putting Him at the center; that is where it begins. Bringing glory to God is putting your marriage orbiting around Jesus with nothing spinning between. Singing His praises is maybe putting "loving your neighbor" just beyond that. If our worship in song serves to realign our priorities and reposition Jesus at the center, then the the worship of our lives should be to align everything else according to His will.

Oh God, may the words and worship of my mouth be reflective of the true state of my heart. In this I know that I will be worshiping You with sincerity and integrity. God, You are worthy of that. Holy Spirit, speak to me and be keeper of my priorities. Jesus, be the center. In Your name, Amen