SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP

What?!  What does sacrificial worship mean and is it something God would have me do really?

It has been a little over a month since I have posted anything on this blog and I have had some ideas, but today something happened and I felt a need to share this. 

If you have read my entire blog, you know that I had to hit bottom and in the process I lost my wife, destroyed my family, lost my home, my stuff and ministries along with broken relationships.  You also know that God continues to work in my life and has Blessed me beyond my comprehension.  Much of what I lost and what truly meant the most to me…remains fractured.  Other parts of the loss have been restored!

I say all that to introduce what I want to say in this post about “Sacrificial Worship.”  Today was another blessing of a day in the Lord and I went to eat at one of my favorite buffet restaurants.  I took a book that I’m reading to pass the time in between “courses.”  While I was dining, a family that I have known for several years sat in the booth behind me and we started chatting a little.  It was good to see them and we were able to catch up a little, as much as you can in a restaurant full of people and trying to eat at the same time.  I asked the husband… “so where are you guys worshiping these days?”  The words out of his mouth spoke volumes.  It was a message in itself.  He told me where his wife was worshiping, and that he didn’t like it there so he wasn’t going anywhere.  But he said he may be going back to a church they had attended a few years ago.  WOW!  How sad my heart was hearing that.  And it’s all that needed to be said on that subject, for now. 

Here is what I would like to say to him and to any man who is not worshiping because they don’t enjoy the church where their spouse is going.  First, I would say…You are called to be the SPIRITUAL LEADER in your home.  That means leading your family in spiritual matters!  Even church attendance.  Here is where the sacrificial worship comes in.  I used to go to church to see what I could get out of it.  If I didn’t like the music, the pastor, the message, the building...whatever…I wouldn’t be interested in making sure I was there every Sunday.  It was after hitting bottom and seeing God in a new way that I now know it’s not about what I can get from the service.  LISTEN UP HERE…It’s what I can GIVE TO GOD during the worship service that is important.  I still may not agree with the music choices, the entire message from the pastor or like the building!  But I serve an AWESOME God and He wants all of me even as I worship together with other believers on Sunday morning.  He can AND WILL speak to you as you open your heart to Him! 

So here is my message to men who stay home from church because it’s not a place they like.  As husbands, you are called to be the Spiritual Leader of your home.  If your wife desires to worship at a certain Bible believing Jesus preaching church, GO WITH HER.  Serve her in that way, sacrifice yourself and worship the one and true God.  Not because it’s where you want to be, but because that’s where your wife wants to be right now.  How can you be on the same page with her spiritually if she is getting fed and giving herself to the Lord and you are staying home doing whatever?  Let me answer that.  You can’t!  When the two of you can be on the same page spiritually…your marriage can grow and be more fruitful than you ever thought possible.  Putting Christ in the center of who you are and the center of your marriage can be the answer to a volume of issues in your life. 

You may be saying…yea George what do you know, you’re divorced.  And I say… you are right!  And that’s one reason why I’m divorced!  First of all I didn’t have Christ at the center of my life every moment.  Secondly, Christ definitely wasn’t the center of my marriage.  To be blunt and honest…I was the center of my marriage.  It was all about me along with other issues in my life.  Wow what a horrible place to be.  I still praise God for my ex-wife!  I mean she stayed with me almost 30 years!  She is an incredible woman of God and I miss her every single day!  I do know this…if God was to ever bless me again with a re-marriage, the relationship would be a 180 degree difference than what it was.

That’s why I have shared these blogs.  Men…I don’t want poor choices to cost you everything.  It’s not worth it.  Love your God and love your wife and family!  Relationships are the most important part of life!  I can assure you that!  God Bless you!  Thank you for reading this and I pray that maybe one family might be able to be strengthened by what God does through these words.  And I pray for my friend that he can hear from God about serving his wife and family spiritually and sacrificially!