An 8-day devotional
The Heart of Worship
You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
(Psalm 51:16-17 NLT)
Today I would love to talk about the importance of bringing a contrite heart in worship to the Lord.
Contrite means to have a sincerely remorseful demeanour.
When I first read this I thought to myself – ‘But what if I haven’t done anything wrong? Why would I bring a remorseful heart to the Lord?’
The truth is, all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard. (See Romans 3:23).
We may not consider ourselves to have done anything overtly ‘wrong’ but, even in the smallest of interactions and behaviours, we don’t measure up to the beautiful and powerful measure that God has called us to live by.
As Christians we are called to a high standard. To love, to forgive, to speak well of others, to honour others above ourselves. The list goes on. If you think of it this way, how often do we fall short of these standards?
To make amends God does not want us to bring a special tithe or beg for forgiveness. He doesn’t require animal sacrifice like He did back in the history of the faith. No, all He wants is for us to recognise it and confess that we are not perfect and that His standard deserves our best.
In worship especially, there should never be a time when we rush into His presence without first recognising our need to approach Him with humility and honour.
A humble and repentant heart is what our Lord is looking for. Luke 18:9-14 is a great example of this.
In this parable in the book of Luke, rather than assuming that He is perfect and righteous and in no need of repenting (the attitude adopted by the Pharisee), the tax collector stands far off from the altar, unable to even lift his eyes to heaven. He beats his chest because he knows that he is only human and so susceptible to falling into sin.
Jesus makes it very clear that it is the tax collector, not the arrogant Pharisee, who went home justified that day.
My point in sharing this parable is to illustrate the attitude of heart we should have, especially when coming before God in worship.
He knows our frailty and there is no condemnation and yet how much more sweet the forgiveness from heaven when He has not had to prize repentance from our hands. How much sweeter it is when it is offered.
Father,
You know our frame. You know we are humans who are susceptible to sin. Please, forge within us a supple and repentant heart. Even when we are not aware of any willful sin, may you bring to our remembrance the truth that all have sinned and fallen short of your glorious standard.
Thank you that you are faithful to forgive us when we offer up our repentance to you. Thank you that you are good.
In Jesus name,
Amen.
Photo by DAVID NIETO on Unsplash
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