Unfailing love

STANDOUT VERSE - PSALM 5:7,8
Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house; I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe. Lead me in the right path, O Lord, or my enemies will conquer me. Make your way plain for me to follow.

We take church too lightly. We fail to see the privilege of being able to attend God’s house and to worship Him freely. Those of us who attend worship hear these sentiments with a certain regularity, but most often it is in the context of thankfulness for the freedom we enjoy in our nation. We are not forbidden from attending nor are we truly persecuted. Yet this is not the main reason we are privileged to attending worship, neither is it why we take church too lightly. Rather, I believe, it is because we take God’s attendance and grace for granted. Because His love is unfailing we may enter His house and find Him whenever we seek Him, but it needn’t have been this way, for why should God be interested in us? But He is. This must give depth to our worship and move us to awesome wonder. We can enter God’s house because He invites us.

But God’s interest in us does not simply apply to our times of worship but extends to every aspect of our lives. Another sign of His love He has created a path for us. It is a path marked by laws of love illuminated by His Word and signposted by revelation. And because it flows from unfailing love it doesn’t simply cover the great decisions of our life but also concerns itself with the detail of daily living.

Notes from the NLT Life Application Study Bible (Mt 5:1ff):

[The sermon on the mount called those listening] back to the messages of the Old Testament prophets, who, like Jesus, taught that heartfelt obedience is more important than legalistic observance.

The Pharisees saw the law but missed the love. They understood that God was interested in every aspect of who we are, yet instead of nurturing the truth that this showed the greatness of God they chose to believe that it showed only the weakness of man; they created a legalism that sought to elevate man. One may remain on a path and move nowhere, but the path God has set before us is to be followed and not merely studied or remained within, so today I join David in his prayer:

Lord, I praise you that I may freely worship you and I am awestruck that you should take time for me. Never let me forget that worship is not merely an expression of my love, but is an expression of Yours for me. Teach me that my worship should not be constrained by the walls of church or of Sabbath, but in all things, at all times and in all areas of my life and my identity, make your way plain for me to follow.