Are You Consumed By God, Or Are You A Consumer of God?

Are you consumed by God in your worship, or are you a consumer of worship?

This is really the question one has to ask when they examine their walk with God.





Corporate worship has an awesome after effect of that experience of a corporate and personal connection to God, connection to the "Body of Christ" (the church), and that connection to the purpose of the local church to come together and worship our God, encourage one another to keep moving forward in their walk with Christ, and see others be changed by Him. That after effect is that sense of refreshing or that feeling of "that felt good", that keeps us coming back for more. But, if that is the only thing that happens, that you feel good, you feel "fed", or you have a good experience and you move on with your week, then we have ALL missed it.

We live in a consumer society...a society that has convinced itself that everything is a product and that all "sickness" or "stuff" of any nature can be fixed with just consuming a product. Its really the marketing ploy of "make people feel like they are missing something, show them they are missing your product, and if they just had your product, all their problems would go away and they would be content". This obviously isnt true, but it sure does explain why we all have iPods, big screen TV's, the clapper, the shamwow towels, and a host of other "you gotta have it" products. What's funny is everytime I have ever bought something that I was sure was the "cure for my ills...this is it, I won't need anything else"...I am ALWAYS let down, it wasn't the answer, the answer does not lie in a product.

So how does this relate to worship?

Sometimes I see people with the best of intentions, and a great love for God, approach worship, and even church as a product. "Let me sprinkle some God on it, and then I can go back to my life as I want it". Worship becomes the latest "diet" fad or self improvement approach to having a better life. But if we approach God, worship, even our church as a product to use for a "better life" we have missed the whole point of Jesus dying for us. He is not "A" source, He is "THE" source. Our worship should not be us consuming some of God's presence to empower us to keep going, our worship should be us laying our life on the altar before God as a sacrifice to be "CONSUMED". We are not to consume, but BE consumed. When we do this, God can burn away all the "stuff" in our life to get to the pure part of how He has made us, and then we find His purpose, His goals, His reason for creating us and we can begin to walk in that.

Our attitude about worship is soooooo important to God. He wants us to come not to get, but to give. Not to "get you some goodies", but to give your love and adoration to God, and also to figuretively speaking lay yourself on the alter as a LIVING SACRIFICE. In effect after we have given Him praise, we then say ..."Here I am send me, I will go for You Lord".

This post is meant to encourage you to look at your reasons for coming to church to corporately worship our King. Ask a couple key questions of yourself, and really examine your motives:

1. Am I coming into worship to give, or to get?
2. Am I fully submitted and embracing of God's will for my life?
3. Am I being obedient when God says "go"?

These questions help me see if I am being consumed by Him, or just being a consumer of Him. It is all about Jesus, and a funny thing happens when we allow ourselves to be consumed by Him...He gives us what we need to not just make it, but to flourish. You see God wants to bless you, He just wants your motives and worship to be of pure motive....as Pastor Clif Cox always tells me, "God is only interested in bringing glory to Himself", so if our motives are to bring glory to Him, to come for Him, and to be used by Him, don't be surprised that God starts meeting not just your needs, but also the desires of your hearts.

Be CONSUMED!!!

For His Glory,

Ken