We live in a functional society, one in which purpose and efficiency is highly valued. Frankly, I am glad for that. It is gratifying to know that things will run on schedule, that the supermarket will be stocked, that the electrical power supplied to my home is reliable. Personally, I am a guy who lives a structured and organized life. My cars are maintained, my lawn is mowed, my home is clean, my bank accounts are balanced, and dinnertime is 5 pm. (smile!) That’s the way life works for me.
When it comes to my relationship with God, I learned that my appreciation for structure, limits, and efficiency can become a hindrance to a richer worship. God does not operate on my timetable. He does not show up when I scheduled ‘time for Him’ into my day. He invites me to ‘just be’ when I come before Him. I was recently intrigued by a phrase I read – ‘loitering with God.’ A pastor named Kenneth Tanner (I do not know him) posted about the gatherings at their church. He wrote- “We gather to pray (in song and spoken word), to attend to Scripture, to break bread, and to have fellowship with the poor—not to “get something out of it” but to loiter with God, which has its own rewards. … To contemplate God’s saving acts in Jesus is enough. To take and bless and break and give bread is enough. To intercede is enough. To provide for widows and orphans is enough. It really is.” That word, loiter, means to “stand or wait around idly or without apparent purpose.”
Christianity is primarily a relationship, knowing God through Christ Jesus. We are not ‘Christian’ because we hold all the right doctrines, not because we have become morally perfect, or because we are a member of the ‘right’ church. My intent is not to demean the importance of sound teaching, nor do I dismiss the necessity of dealing with sin in ourselves. It is good to have developed convictions about what we believe. But, if we come to assume that those who worship differently, who believe different things about the meaning of the Atonement than we do, or that teach different things about human sexuality, or who use the ‘wrong’ Bible translation in church, or who have differing views than we do about the Second Coming events- we will slip into a religion based on human systems, policies, and cultural expressions. It is quite possible to love our traditions about Jesus more than we love HIM!
Loving Him requires that we learn to ‘loiter’ in His Presence,
to wait on Him, to prioritize times of contemplative prayer and worship.
So many Christians simply do not understand this. Even our ‘worship’ services are so often tightly programmed, noisy, full of words with little time for reflection. For me, some of the most wonderful moments in the worship gathering is our time of prayer when we pause and sit while people move to the front of the sanctuary to receive prayer. God speaks to me in those times! I appreciate the importance of holding the Cup and Bread of Communion, in adoration of the One who makes me right with God Himself – no words necessary. This is the Word – “You are members of God’s family. We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself." (Ephesians 2:19-20, NLT)
Jesus made it amazingly clear that pleasing and knowing God is expressed in just two ways. "Jesus replied: ”‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" (Matthew 22:37-39, NIV) When we start there, focused on the pursuit of Christ Jesus, ‘all the Law and Prophets’ (the right understandings, doctrines, and practices) will fall into place.
Have you lost sight of the One who makes you alive, the work of the Spirit deadened in you by your rigid commitments to your structures and rules?
Confess your need of Jesus again. Let go of your preferences
and invite the Holy Spirit to renew love for your Savior.
Here is a word from the Word. They are the inspired thoughts of a man who had been a devoted rule-keeper, a zealous builder of a religious system that had lost sight of God’s plan. May his aspiration become mine. "I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God’s law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead!" (Philippians 3:7-11, NLT)
(Video of this blog at this link)
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In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light my strength my song
This Cornerstone this solid Ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love what depths of peace
When fears are stilled when strivings cease
My Comforter my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand
In Christ alone who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live
There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
No guilt in life no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand
Keith Getty | Stuart Townend
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