Fanatics?

 Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' Matthew 22:37...."Go to church once a week and nobody pays attention. Worship God 7 days a week and you become strange. Let us become strange together and call it normal." A.W. Tozer

I think one of the great fears for the average believer in America is for them to be accused of being a religious fanatic. It's OK if we have a personal faith, so long as we're quiet about it. It's a personal thing the world says, and they want it to remain so. In other words, keep quiet.

Most professing believers know the above verse. They know that we're commanded to love the Father, His Son, and His Holy Spirit with all of our being. Every atom of our being and every impulse of our mind and spirit is to be directed towards Him. It is not that we can think of nothing and no one else, but that we cannot think of anything or anyone without being conscious of Him. He's to be a living presence that we're always completely aware of and totally surrendered to. Such a life doesn't just look strange to those who know nothing of it, it terrifies them. They believe you to be out of your mind, and when they see you coming, they begin looking for someplace else to be.

King David danced before the Lord in worship and in public. His wife berated him for it, believing it was demeaning for a king to do so. He replied that he was willing to look much more "undignified," foolish, than that for His God. He didn't fit her idea of normal for the occasion. We have our own ideas about worshipping Him, and most of them fit our idea of being dignified and not looking foolish. Too many of us fall into that category, but what do we miss and what are we not offering up to Him?

I close with something the young lady I wrote of earlier this week said to me. She said she had decided that she was going to worship Him with all of her being and she would not let her fear of what people thought prevent her. The result was the powerful experience I related in Monday's writing. May we, you and I, lose our fear of what people might think, and just worship Him with all our heart. It doesn't have to be dancing, or shouting, or running about, but it does need to be wholehearted and undivided. Worship that draws His heart and presence to us, and the hearts of those who are also present, to Him. This week, when we gather together in His name, may we worship Him in a manner that cares nothing for what people may think, but everything for what He thinks. Let us be strange together and call it normal.

Blessings,
Pastor O