“In Your Presence is fullness of joy…” Psalm 16:11
Have you ever had a one-way friendship? Someone you genuinely like, but whenever they contact you it’s only because they need something? They are so busy and focused on their own lives that they may not realize they treat you like a means to an end instead of like a true friend. Once in a while, true friends just want to be with you with no other agenda except to be together. In our weekly prayer meeting we begin by emptying our thoughts, worries, and desires at the cross and just worship for a half an hour. The goal is not to get something but to just be with Him.
What does God do during this time of concentrated worship? It doesn’t matter because it’s not about us, it’s about Him. No doubt He will transform us and bless us with a new joy in His presence, but that’s His agenda, not ours. We just want to be with Him and pour out our worship and thanksgiving for who He is. Even the disciples said, “Why this waste?” (Matthew 26:8), when Mary poured out her costly perfume on Jesus. The great temptation of the church today is to make God and our worship a means to an end instead of the main event. Please listen to Jesus’ response to Mary’s worship: “Wherever the gospel is preached I want this story told.” (Matthew 26:13)
Finally, in this act of worship, Jesus saw the response God is looking for to the gospel. Abandoned worship that isn’t looking at its watch or at the crowd for approval; someone who just wanted to spend herself on Jesus for His sake. I want to join Mary’s worship, don’t you?
One Thing 