Spotlight On The World

A huge pet peeve of mine is those who crave attention. Most of this comes in the form of acting out, dating someone, or being extremely loud. Also, most of the time, this stuff is handled with semi-moderation and in the appropriate places. However, one place has caused me to become livid with the people who show off during this: church services or worship services.

Be advised: this is just a venting blog. I do know signs of Christ-like worship and the physical symbolism that comes with that. However, the purpose of this is to strengthen the faith of others as well as yourself.

It makes me both physically sick and emotionally disappointed when I see people try to get attention during church services. There is a very strong difference between true worship of GOD, and worship of yourself to GOD. I cannot tell you how many times I go to chapel and see people who raise up their hands and yell and dance around like crazy...on the first verse of the first song! Yes, I understand using physical acts as worship, and yes one could make the argument that that's how they worship. I agree, I do think that hand-raising and jumping is an act of worship. But I find myself extremely skeptical when it happens every chapel service (3 times a week) during the first verse of the first song. I don't doubt the power of the Holy Spirit though, but is the worship really genuine?

Another area where this problem is occurring more and more lately is in the worship leaders. I understand this feeling; I've sung worship a number of times, and the feeling of singing in front of everyone is empowering. However, Satan has a way of letting pride slip in and get to worship leaders. I'm sure others who do worship at their church can also relate to this. It's such a small temptation that can creep in and cause our entire demeanor to change.

I find it shocking (kinda, not really) that Satan has the audacity to sneak pride in even during our worship services. I don't mean this blog post to scold nearly as much as I mean it as a warning. During worship, remember who the music and the act is really to: GOD. Yes, worshiping physically is okay. Feel free to put your hands up, sit down, jump, dance around, whatever you need; just make sure it's genuine worship. And try not to disturb others either. Remember, worship is a connection between you and GOD, thanking him for your blessings, don't interrupt that connection for someone else.