From Paul W. Martin @www.preacherthoughts.blogspot.com
In my class on Worship at Toronto Baptist Seminary, I asked my students to identify five ways they are a hindrance to the Corporate Worship of God. Their lists were very interesting and I assembled a bit of a highlight reel here. I think it is a great question to ask yourself before next Sunday – how do I hinder the worship of God at my church? Here are some of the items my guys came up with...
- Not even thinking about how God desires to be worshiped
- Sin in my life
- Not showing up at all
- Being grumpy
- Not arriving grateful for the cross
- Not praying in advance
- Being tired or lazy
- Taking pride in my contributions to the service
- Distracted by the details and running of the service
- Showing up late
- Processing other things than what is happening in the service
- Worrying about what my kids are doing
- Looking for a pen and writing a cheque
- Not fixing relational problems with others in the church
- Thinking more about the process of worship than the One I am to worship
- Roaming mind
- Pride in thinking I could do better than what the person up front is doing
- Not going to bed early enough on Saturday night
- Watching car races [insert your program of choice here] so that a) I am late for services and b) my mind is dwelling on them not the Lord
- Not worshiping God through the week
- Not paying attention to what I sing or say in worship
- Worrying about what I wore
- Wanting the service to be perfect and growing discontent with mistakes
- Being more excited about friends than God
- Timing the pastors prayers
- Viewing the singing as a time of entertainment
- Trying to get friends to laugh by distracting them in immature ways
- Enjoying the melody of a song more than delighting in God
- Pride of thinking I could play a certain instrument better
- Criticizing every little aspect of the service in my mind
- Pride of thinking God must be impressed with the way I am worshiping!
- Doing outward things in order to gain others’ attention
- Sitting with people I know will lead me to talk and not pay attention
- Thinking about the problems of my week rather than on the worship of God
- Not confessing sin
- Failing to prepare for worship
- Over-analyzing songs and sermons so that I never think of Christ
- Doing a shoddy job in my contributions to corporate worship
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