Nature Inspired

Articles

John Miller
12/18/18 - Windstream Mail

R E F L E C T I O N S

Thoughts on nature and the Christian faith - 12/17/18

"God is spirit, and those who worship him

must worship in spirit and truth.” - Jn. 4:24

Being in nature almost always inspires me to worship. I often think why this is so. Many others see the same things I see, yet worship never crosses their minds. The same can be said of churches. Jo and I have visited some churches where worship seems as natural to the people assembled there as breathing. We have also visited churches where the congregation appears to only be going through the motions. What is the root motivation to worship? How can a congregation be inspired to worship? Why is passion so evident in some churches and completely lacking in others? It is not because there is no one out there offering solutions. One only has to visit a Christian book store where it seems every author has an answer, a magical technique to try, or a program to sell. Each year brings a new solution to change your church into a passionate dynamo for Christ. One thing is certain, a person can make a lot of money selling a quick fix to a church starving for a way to inspire its membership. If we would just do X, Y, and Z we would experience passionate worship and numerical growth. The biblical answer, however, portrays worship as a consequence of something more foundational. Doxology is the natural result of something the modern church has largely abandoned. That something is a solid biblical theology. We can't praise a God we do not know, and we can't have a passion for a Christ whose work on our behalf we don't understand. We have become content with milk when meat is needed. Good solid theology produces good solid doxology. We cannot worship in spirit and in truth with a distorted view of ourselves or a distorted view of God. The truth about the nature of God produces a deep love for God which produces passionate worship of God. Anyone who falls in love does not need additional motivation or manipulation to express it. You can fake worship and you can manipulate people into thinking they are worshipping, but God knows the difference. - John