"The amish, whenever they produce any of their crafts, purposefuly put a flaw somewhere in their work. It could be one piece of thread that's out of line or a part of a quilt that's slightly off center, but it's there to remind them that only God is perfect." (129, Noland)
Ah yes, flawed on purpose. Now there is an idea that will be hard for each of us and our perfectionist tendencies to grasp. Yet, there is something great in knowing that even though our free will causes us to fail time and time again God continually uses us and our errors to bring about His will.
Since we perfectionists tend to focus detrimentally on the negative, we need to learn to savor the positive. Truly, we need to become practiced at "celebrat[ing] anything and everything positive that comes our way" (128, Noland). In our culture, we often are led to believe that we should not rejoice in our successes, but this is not what God wants in our lives.
Noland shares the story of David to remind us of this: "In 2 Samuel 6 David had defeated the Philistines and returned the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. The whole nation celebrated, and David was so overjoyed that he danced "with all his might" (v.14). And why not? He was savoring a great work of God that he'd had the privilege to be a part of. David danced before the Lord with humility and joy. He wasn't taking the glory for himself. He was worshiping God. David's wife, Michal, on the other hand, wasn't into savoring, and she sharply criticized her husband for his outlandish celebration. But God was not pleased with her negative attitude, and He cursed her with barrenness (v.23). So you see, God doesn't like it when we pass up an opportunity to savor Him. He delights in worship-filled celebration" (128, Noland).
There are several key components to savoring the positive. First, we have to recognize that if God uses us to do His will and something fantastic comes out of it, it is "okay to celebrate what God's doing through us" (Noland 128). This is not us patting ourselves on our backs, instead it is us rejoicing that we were able to do God's will. We are letting God's joy at accomplishing what He's equipped us to do into our lives.
Do you think that our team does a good job of celebrating when God uses the team in a special way? What are some instances that you think we should rejoice over because God's Will was actualized in the past couple days, weeks, and/or months?
I think that with the direction leadership is taking with our church and the fact that the worship team is a part of that celebration on September 9th, I believe that there can be even more freedom of expression in worship. To me is a declaration towards less unnecessary baggage of man made laws and incumberances into more freedom of God's Spirit. The letter kills, but where there is God's Spirit, there is life, freedom.
ReplyDeleteBTW...congrats to our BLOG LEADER...ANDREA!
Pam
I think that our team does a great job in celebrating. We celebrate when God takes our talents and magnifies them to really touch someone's heart and we celebrate when God lets us teach the congregation grace through our worhsip.
ReplyDeleteWendi
I agree with both of you. Pam, what an amazing way to put that. And I'm certain that we individually celebrate the joys of our team and our church, if not as a group. I also know that when we as a team learn of lives touched through our service it lifts our hearts. Wendi, I think we can teach more grace with less practice. It's a sound plan.
ReplyDeleteLarry