He Is So Good

At times over the years I would hear people talk about how they are, "looking forward to heaven" or how they, "wish they were in heaven now". I did not agree with their sentiment.

In fact, for a long time, I was pretty upset with the idea of heaven. Partly because of the enormity of eternity, it scared me when I tried to imagine it. It felt like I was falling.

The main reason I was not real excited about heaven was because heaven was described as worshipping God all day long.

With my viewpoint of worship at that point... heaven sounded more like a punishment.

I grew up in a pretty traditional church, where we sang mostly hymns led with a piano and organ. I have since found other styles that I tend to prefer, but I still love many of the classics; however, my issue was not the style of worship.

The issue was my perspective of worship; or more accurately, my perspective of God.

I viewed God as big, powerful, holy, angry, and terrifying. My interactions with God, started and ended with, a long list of profuse apologies.

Worship for me, was trying to sing God's anger away. It was not pleasant for me, and I am not so sure God was super excited about it either.

Worship, much like Christianity, is much simpler than many make it out to be. Christianity is about relationship; a relationship with Jesus. Worship is one part of that relationship.

When you sing a song about how good God is, that should reflect your observation of God's goodness. When you sing about God's love, that should also reflect your appreciation for the love God has shown you.

God is not self conscious, needing your affirmation to remind Him He is doing a good job. God is not angry with you, and the purpose of your worship is not to sing God's anger away.

Worship is about your response to God in your life. If during worship you find yourself awkwardly standing there mumbling through the words, hoping they do 4 songs instead of 5; I would suggest this is not a style issue, it is a you issue.

The real issue is your perspective of worship; or more accurately, your perspective of God.

Follow me on this thought.

When we walk with Jesus daily, we are constantly reminded of the goodness and the love of God. His work in our life leads us to talk to others about Him, and causes us to sing about His goodness.

Worship when done from a viewpoint of relationship, becomes so easy and freeing, regardless of the style of music. Heaven becomes an exciting reward. It's an eternity of worshipping God!

That sounds good to me, because He is so good to me.