The Perfecting Church

As royal priests of the Most High God, we are required to worship. This is our number one priority. God desires to fellowship with us and the Tabernacle was the place designed for worshippers to meet with God. But as New Testament priests we are called to sanctify our bodies, which are the temple of the Holy Ghost, and become Holy meeting places for the world to get to know our King.

The highest of all calls for the human being is the call to worship. Worship is the thing that shapes our passions, our pursuits and our desires. Whatever we worship rules our time, energy, thoughts, longings, and choices. More than anything God desires our worship, not as a duty, but as our heart’s reaction to Him revealing Himself to us. Worship is our highest call. And worship brings us into a fulness of joy that’s inaccessible by any other means.

Jesus could go into the deep on His own, but He’s determined to bring the Church into the depths with Him. He wants to get us off the shore; He wants to get into our boats, and He wants to fill our boats — overwhelming us with waves of His grace and goodness. The deep is the place beyond our wildest dreams, into the fullness of joy that’s only found in the dreams that God has for us.

Life is filled with suffering and difficult moments. The wildfires in CA that destroyed over 250K acres and displaced hundreds of thousands of people and the recent Tsunami in Indonesia that took over 400 lives, are proof that this year has been no exception. And if it wasn't natural disasters wreaking havoc, it was fierce nationalism and violent racism against black and brown people and religious minorities sweeping the US and nations around the world. So many mass shootings have taken place that gunviolence.org has cataloged every incident in 2018 — Parkland HS where 17 were killed and most recently the 11 killed at Tree of Life Synagogue being the most deadly. And then there are the crushing difficulties we’ve experienced here in our own church family — deaths, divorces, job losses, addictions, persistent sickness. Even as Christians we are not exempt from suffering and difficulty. So what does God have to say about all of this? What hope is there for His sons and daughters?

God and His promises come wrapped in unlikely packages. Swaddling is an age-old practice of wrapping infants in blankets or cloths so that movement of the limbs is tightly restricted. Swaddling helps the baby transition from the womb to the outside world. Jesus is “The Promise” wrapped in swaddling sent to liberate us from the swaddling we’ve been bound by.

It’s with faith and patience that we inherit the promises of God. Too often we go on never experiencing God’s promises because this hurried, “I want it my way” world works to rob us of the purpose in waiting and faith-filled prayers. We need both if we are to inherit the promises of God. We must learn how to wait and we must learn how to pray in faith.

Nobody likes to wait. But waiting carries far more purpose than most of us ever realize. Learning to wait is more important than receiving the promise. The person who doesn't know how to wait, never truly receives the promise. Waiting prepares us for the promise that’s been given.