Devotional - 12/2/02
“Worship Before Men”
Matthew 5:16
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 6:1
Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of
them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Yesterday I experienced a very strange feeling during worship. We were entering the "ad-lib" section of the opening worship song, "Your Love Reaches Me." It follows the first bridge, and is designed specifically for allowing the worship leader an opportunity to sing freely whatever thoughts and/or musical phrases that happen to come to mind at the time. This is a trend in many new worship songs, particularly those emerging from the Vineyard tradition of charismatic, Spirit-led worship, but it certainly leads those of us from a more traditional background into uncharted waters.
Anyway, we've done this song a few times already and I've been pretty comfortable playing and singing that section, mostly just regurgitating musical phrases from the reference recording. But yesterday was different. In a blinding second of panic, I stepped out of worship mode and became horribly self-aware.
We've all had the feeling. "What are people thinking about me?" "Am I coming across?" "Are people going to criticize me?" "Am I adequate to this?" "Do people like me?" "Is this going to connect or just fall flat?"
These feelings are regrettably all-too-normal. We desire to be accepted and loved. And there are times that all of us doubt other people's acceptance and love. (Sometimes, unfortunately, we're right.) But when we allow those feelings to sweep over us, they almost always detract from the mission that God has called us to.
It's like Peter walking on the water. The waves are certainly there, but as long as you keep our eyes on Jesus, you can withstand. Lose concentration, and you're going to get real wet.
And it's a delicate balance. As Jesus paradoxically reminds us in today's scriptures (both taken from the same sermon!), we have to let our light shine without stealing the spotlight. In my case, if the song calls for me to let the Spirit lead what I'm going to sing next, I have to step up to the challenge and open my heart. But I can't become a prima donna about it. Either way, the focus can't be on people-pleasing, but God-pleasing.
And guess what? No matter what your role is, you can fall into the trap of people-pleasing. Why do you volunteer? Is it just because someone begged you and you didn't want to disappoint them? That's people-pleasing. Why do you play your instrument or mix the sound or run the slide show or operate the lights or act as Prayer Partner? Is it because you desire the compliments and accolades? People-pleasing. We all must continually search our hearts, and weed out those pesky wrong motives.
I'm certainly an imperfect example. But I pray that as all of us rededicate ourselves to the work that God has called us to at our local church, we'll apply ourselves whole-heartedly, without self-incrimination.
- Dale Haas