Just something I was pondering.....What about our own beliefs and thoughts....

One way or another, we 'worship' something. There is always a purpose, cause, person, or philosophy that gets the lion's share of any given person's time and energy. Some people worship themselves, their thoughts and energies are mostly devoted to 'taking care of number 1'. Some worship being loved and adored by the people around them (though, not necessarily loving and adoring those people in turn. They crave attention.) Some worship the acquisition of material wealth. Some worship relationships and put great value on the people who are most important in their lives. Some may dedicate themselves to helping those around them who are less fortunate. All of these things can be worship, and like most things, some worship is constructive and some is destructive. As a person, I think that it's very important to understand what it is that you worship in life, because where your heart is, that is where you will find your treasure (and most treasured things).

Very few people, even exceptionally good people with high morals and standards of conduct, social conscience, and honesty, truly worship God. They may believe in the concept of God, they may believe that there is life after death, but they don't live their lives as if there is life after death, or as if their life belongs to God as their creator. I'm not saying that it is a bad thing to fall into that category, as I am not going to waste my life judging how others spend theirs. What I am saying is that to worship God is to choose to dedicate everything to God. Anything else isn't worship. You don't worship money if you get a job so that you can support your family. You can make money without worshiping it, and so too, you can praise God, believe in God, and even love God and still not worship God. Martin Luther said that a dairy maid could milk cows to the glory of God. I believe that is true. I think that anything that you do as if you are presenting it to God as a gift is worship of God (be it the way you take care of your family, fulfill the duties of your job, participate in charity, or even just mowing your lawn). Appreciation of a beautiful sunset can be worship of God, it just means that you have to have the right frame of mind, and the feeling of God inside of you as a real presence, rather than a theoretical concept.

To me, the only way that I can experience God is to experience God as a real and living part of my life. Worship of God isn't a part of my life, like mowing the lawn, washing the cars, filling my wife's car with gas so she doesn't have to, going to church, participating in charity, going to work, or watching TV. All of those things are a part of my life, and can be done as part of my worship of God, but it is my life itself that I consider my worship of God and the way I do every task is a part of that worship. When I do something, I try my best to do it like I was doing it FOR the one who created me, and who created the world. After all, if my body and all of the things of the world already belong to God, then I can't very well give him anything EXCEPT for how I take the life he gave me and live it.

So maybe you are more comfortable with keeping God at a distance, and thinking of God as being a Shepard over a flock, and delighting or feeling sorrow with the flock as a whole. Maybe worship is something that you can do on a semi-regular basis in your life like brushing your teeth, taking out the trash, or mowing the lawn. And perhaps you are OK with the concept of belief in God and even love of God without the worship of God. That's OK, because we are all different in our concepts and understandings. I think that to worship God though is to LOVE God with the same devotion of self that you put into the love you have for those people that are closest to you (be it your kids, significant other, or other family and friends). You don't have to preclude such relationships if you form that same relationship with God. If you have two kids, can't you love one without loving the other less? To quote CS Lewis, if you shoot for heaven, you get earth thrown in for free.

To use the biblical story of the Shepard, if even ONE lamb strays the Shepard will seek it and celebrate finding it. I like to think of God as being a constant companion, and that he is with me individually (as well as being with the whole flock) and that when I communicate with God, it's not an email to a friend that he'll read and think about in some remote place and time. It's a direct and personal communication, which is the result of a direct and personal relationship. I don't feel that this subtracts from my life at all, in fact, it provides clarity and drive that makes all aspects of my life better and fuller. That's just me, and my own experience.

One might argue that if one believes in such a thing as God, and that the belief itself drives the person to positive goals and positive achievements, then it doesn't matter if God exists or not, because the belief alone is making the transformation in that person's life. Do I succeed in life because I think that I believe in God, and that drives my life in positive directions, or do I succeed and thus attribute it to God, and the success itself feeds the belief. Or, and it may sound silly, is it possible that God does exist and my success and belief are just a natural expression of the truth? Obviously, there is no way to tell for sure one way or the other, but then again, that's why belief in an afterlife and a supreme being like God is based on the concept of faith. Sometimes you just have to go with your gut, and if you believe in God, and that belief is true, then you have to look at your life and decide if you live it as if you believe in God as a fact, or as a theoretical concept. The proof is in what you do, not what you think about as a theory that isn't put into practice.

I know that this may make a lot uncomfortable or it might just be boring. I am sorry for that. I am just voicing my opinion.. cool?