I have time only for a short post today. I am almost caught up with the reading I received last Christmas. This is good as I have a large shipment of new books coming soon. Here is a great quote from Sally Morgenthaler's Worship Evangelism: Inviting Unbelievers into the presence of God.
"This extra 'glimpse of God' is what most of us crave. With any experience of God's nearness comes all the blessings of God's divine nature: renewal, power to change, deliverance, comfort, joy, and peace. It is no coincidence that these are the very things for which the world is longing and searching." pp. 97-98
Morgenthaler's argument is that worship should bring us to this place. If it does, it is attractive to both believers and unbelievers. The question we should ask is whether people come in contact with the living God while in worship. I think this is a great question.
At Grace, I have heard from many that they "feel" the presence of God while with us in worship. This observation comes from visitors, believers, unbelievers, long-time attenders, and everything in between. I praise the Lord for this! I pray that we encounter Him more. But it leads me to thinking in another direction.
We long for the grace of God and thus His presence. We know we need it. Why don't more of us figure out how to achieve this? Why don't we give everything we have to be in the presence of God? I think we need more "believers" to come into the presence of God. I believe that tasting the mercy of God's life-changing grace drives us to want more. We know we are lacking something good when we do not have it. We might substitute other object, people, sins, experiences for our greater good, but none of these satisfy. Why are so many people then satisfied? Why are so many people, even and particularly believers, not abandoning anything that gets in the way of knowing the grace of God?
Lord give us grace to become mystics engaging with You and reaching out to the lost and hurting world.
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