Lips that now sing.

I love church. Always have. Where I grew up people go to church, even the non-Christians. Or the non-believers, shall I say; those who are Christian by default (default meaning that they claim they ARE Christian because they ARE NOT Muslim or Buddhist or Mormon). It is a part of our culture. While I don’t really agree that this is how it should be, it is how the situation stands. It is what I am used to.

In being a church-going-girl, I have seen the gamut of types of services.

 From very structured Greek Orthodox services, to very open, free, Charismatic ones, and all of the small Baptist churches in between. Because I am looking for him, I can usually find Jesus in all of these. Picking apart someone, belittling them, or crying wolf about a style of service is not my thing and frankly I don’t really think it is Biblical. Do I agree with everything done in those services? No. But more likely than not my real issue is preference rather than doctrine, so I can let a lot of things slide.

All that to be said, a worship service at camp or at a youth conference can be something entirely different. There are usually counselors running around in superhero or banana costumes, and really, really loud music being played (because that is how the young ones like it), and also, very stereotypically, there are loads of junior highers and high schoolers with their eyes closed, tears streaming down their faces, and hands raised really high into the air.
Great.
I love it.
Am I always a part of it?
Nope.
Why?
Because God doesn’t always tell me to raise my hands…so some nights I don’t. That particular expression (nor any expression) of worship is not to be done as something showy, something to draw attention to oneself. Therefore, if I am doing it out of habit or because everyone else is doing it, it needs to stop.

I was talking with one of my sweet campers one morning about it and she said, “I look around and I see all of these kids with their eyes closed and their hands raised, just praising Jesus, and I think ‘Why don’t I feel like doing that?! Is something wrong with me? I saw you last night, and you were doing it too and I could just tell that you were really into it. Very emotionally connected to God.’”

I had to smile. I love high school aged girls. They are so trusting that what they see is the truth (that can get us in trouble at times…but that is a topic for another time).
"Well, here’s the deal,” I said to her. “What you saw last night was not me feeling emotionally connected. What you saw last night was me choosing to believe.”

I was a little shocked at my honesty.

But the truth is there are a lot of times that I don’t feel like I agree with the words of the worship songs. I can be in a season of life where to say the phrase, “You are good when there is nothing good in me” is a stretch for my emotions to connect with because I might be plagued with doubt about the goodness of God. Life might have crowded in. Or to sing “I surrender all” might be a bold-faced lie because if I am being truthful, there are areas of my life that I am not handing over to him.

That night in particular, though, the night she was watching me, I had taken on an attitude of “choosing to believe.”

The hard part about life is the emotions. If we could be realistic all the time, if hearts were never involved, if past fears were never brought up again, if perceptions could be changed, we would all be better off. That’s not the case, however. Unfortunately. Emotions do play a part in our life.
So what happens when our emotions are contrary to the truth? What do we do in THAT situation? How do we worship when we are enshrouded in those feelings?

We do exactly what I was telling her: we choose to believe. We abandon how we feel about the situation and we choose to believe.

The truth of the matter is that whether my current life situation wants to FEEL that those words on the screen are true or not, THEY ARE.
God, regardless of if I want to believe it, is the “Redeemer, my Healer, Lord, Almighty, my Savior, Defender, you are my King.” Period. My opinion of God does not change one single thing about who God actually is. My opinion of him changes only how I relate to him.
John 4:24 says, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” The spirit is truth, who He is, how He works, truth indwelling in those who believe. That is truth. And truth is found nowhere outside of the triune person of God. Therefore, worship is the declaration that “God is God” and the believing that that statement is true.
Whether you “emotionally” feel it at that time or not.

On another note, one night I was looking around at the crowd and I was overwhelmed by the beauty before me. The fact that there WERE a lot of people declaring the truth of who God is, making strong stands in the heavenly realms, was one of the most overwhelming things to be a part of.

As I was hearing those voices ring through the building, no doubt making their way before the throne of God, all I could see was the grace pouring forth from said throne. There before me were 300+ people, all of whose lips once did not sing.
But now they do.
The majority of those people have been called and redeemed by the Living God.
People are not born in a relationship with God. People are not born singing his praises. People are rescued into that. They are ransomed into that. They are given lips that now “sing new songs” (Psalm 98:1).

A lot of times, and I especially see this in small churches, people can become disillusioned with the other members in their church. They can see their problems, their issues, their hang-ups. They see that those down the pew are not perfect. Grumbling can ensue, bitterness can take over.

But how often do we look at those people, not as the ones putting up an issue about what worship songs we sing, but as a people whose lips now sing any worship song? And how often do we praise God because they once did not?
Believers are those “in progress;” the ones who now sing. Don’t ever forget how much grace you have been given.
And choose to believe, Wolfies. God IS who he says he is.