Seek and you will find.
My family visited a church last Sunday. It was small. I know small isn’t cool these days. The mega-church is where it’s at. But, my hubby and I are traditionalists. We like small. We realized long ago that we kind of swim upstream where society is concerned. We also decided that we are okay with it. I spoke with the pastor at length, before we visited. After that sweet man, gave me over an hour of his time, he simply said to me, “Come and visit. Either you will feel God here or you won’t.”
Wow, such simple words, yet so profound. There are a hundred different ways to worship. Some people like a rocking service with a complete band. Others prefer kneeling and tradition and quiet. Some feel it’s very important to take communion every Sunday. Some have to have a cup of coffee in their hand while others would never allow food or drink in their sanctuary.
The Bible doesn’t give many specific instructions on the right way to worship. The point is we are there to worship God, our Creator, the Creator of the universe. Personally, I don’t believe that the specifics matter that much. But, that pastor’s words stuck in my head for two weeks before we visited. “When we attend worship, can we feel God?”
In the end, that seems to me to be the only question that matters. As Christians, we don’t worship a far away, absentee landlord, God. We worship a living, breathing God who is very involved in our lives. We worship a God who sent His son to die for us. We worship a God who sent the Holy Spirit to inspire men to write a guidebook called the Bible to instruct us and tell us how to live and grow in spiritual maturity, a book that keeps us safe.
Our God doesn’t strike us down for making mistakes. Our God doesn’t instruct other Christians to strike us down for making mistakes either. Although, there are religions out there who do. Our God is a God of love. The word love appears in the Bible 551 times in the NIV.
So, the question, “Can you feel God?” is a huge question. Feeling God where we worship is of utmost importance, but as I thought about it, I wondered about feeling God in other areas of our lives. Do we feel God when we pray, or in our relationships? What about when we are making decisions? Can we feel God at the family dinner table?
I have found myself pondering this question for a couple of weeks. I think it may be one that we should all ponder. The Bible tells us, “Keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7
I take this to mean if we seek God, then we will find Him. Can we feel God in our lives? If the answer is, “no,” then maybe it’s time to do some seeking. Can we feel God where we worship? That may be a hard question, but one that needs to be asked. If the answer is “no,” then we maybe need to ask why and do some soul searching.
As for us, in the little church we visited, the answer is a resounding “yes!” and it was awesome!
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂