More on Transitioning

So I had an earlier post stating...

"I have a lot more transitioning to do, but is life just one big transition
into the presence of God? Ya, more thoughts on that later."

So now is later (ya, that grammar makes sense). Anyhow, as rare as it is for me to sit and ponder anything for an extended period of time, I have thought a lot about worship lately. I feel like God has asked me to really dig in and study worship. I know, it's not to broad of a topic really, but still, I wasn't sure where to start. You'll notice the links under our profile picture. There are a couple of links to sites that are dedicated to the study of worship. In particular, the "Worship Matters" site is really good. So all of that ties together to bring me to this point. As I've pondered all the things that we a people experience, or can experience in our lifetime, it occurs to me that everything, good and bad, does have a purpose. Due to a little thing we call providence, God uses all things to shape our hearts to respond to Him in Worship. You see, whether or not we realize it, we will all worship one day. You know, the "every knee will bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" verse somewhere in Revelation, I think? My point is that with all of things I've gone through recently, I've noticed a forced change in my heart. I am being trained to think and live less for myself and more for others. It goes against the very nature of my flesh, but it's a necessary process if I'm ever to appropriately respond to the presence of God. Could you imagine for a minute being in heaven in the presence of an almighty God and saying something like "C'mon God, tune it down a little. The brightness of you presence is hurting my eyes. I can't even see anything else in heaven." How selfish would that be?

So what if we look at life not with the perspective of one week, but with eternity goggles. I say goggles, because we don't naturally see with a perspective of eternity. You have to put on a modifier to your vision, if you will, so that you can see differently. It's just a good word picture, yo. But through those goggles, we start to see some of these "life transitions" a little differently. It really has nothing to do with how hard the new transition makes our life, but instead how we respond to it. It really reveals your character (or lack of it). Our response to life changes are a window into our inner hearts. So maybe (here's where I come full circle) "life is just one big transition into the presence of God." Pretty neat idea huh? That must mean it didn't come from me.

Let me know what you think, or if you want to expand on the idea. If you are more interested in discussing some thoughts on worship in general, let me know. I might have something for you. Talk to you again soon.

B-rad