It’s Sunday morning and we joyfully bounce out of bed, eagerly anticipating heading off to church. We lovingly go in and wake the kids up and make a good hot breakfast for all. When we are all dressed in our Sunday best we head to the car with smiles on our faces ready to worship our Lord.
Is this the scene at your house on Sunday mornings? Or – the alarm goes off and we lay in bed for a minute or two thinking we can worship God from home just as easily and meaningfully as in church. But no, we drag ourselves down the hall to wake up kids, rush everyone to grab a bowl of cereal and slap some clothes on and pile in the car with loud admonishments of,” We are going to be late! Get in!”
Whatever your Sunday mornings look like, do we shake it off by the time we get here? Do our hearts say, ‘I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart, I will enter his courts with praise. I will say this is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice for He has made me glad’? (from Psalm 100:4)
Well, if you are in scenario #2, I daresay that is not exactly how you are feeling. By the time you get here and maybe drop the kids in the nursery or kids church and finally get to plop down in your pew, you are saying, ‘ok God, do your thing’.
Many of us, despite how our morning goes, enter expecting God to do all the work. And though he is perfectly capable of it, he asks more from us also. The song I reference above is titled ‘He Has Made Me Glad’. But then the lyrics use that word ‘will’. I WILL rejoice, I WILL enter with praise, I WILL say this it the day the Lord has made, I WILL rejoice, for He has made me glad. It is an active decision we make.
What is my point? We are not to be passive in our expectations and results of our Sunday morning worship experience. We come to meet God. We come to worship Him and glorify His name. We need to prepare our hearts and come with an expectation that He’s there.
I have a unique vantage point in our church sitting up on stage and playing with the worship team. I look out and see all these faces that I know and love. When I look out on the congregation will I see faces that are joyful and saying, ‘this is the day that the Lord has made’?
We need to come with an attitude of joy and expectation. We do our part of entering with a thankful heart, determined to praise Him and He will make you glad!
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