Are you reading the Bible through with me? Grab your pen and journal, and get ready to write your thoughts as you journey through the Bible.
Read Leviticus 10-12. In the first 7 verses, we find the tragic story of Nadab and Abihu (Aaron’s oldest sons and Moses’s nephews) and the strange (unauthorized) fire.
Nadab and Abihu sinned in doing something OTHER than what God had instructed. Their intentions might have been good, but they were disobedient. They didn’t follow God’s commands, they used fire from an unclean place to light the tabernacle incense, they acted without thinking, they were a little too ambitious, and they were not reverent and serious about their job. In punishment, God destroyed them by fire.
Even today, for all believers, but even more so for spiritual leaders, there MUST be a distinction between the holy and the common. Even Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross that created a bridge between us and God and enabled our adoption as God’s children, we must never forget that our Father is Holy and must be respected as such, especially in our worship. (See Exodus 39:7-9).
Do we treat our worship as a common thing? Absolutely, when we participate in worship for what we can get out of it rather than what we put into it; when we fail to prepare to worship by praying during the week and before the service; when we become more concerned with building OUR church than building HIS kingdom; when we care more about traditions rather than actual worship; when we argue and hold grudges with other members of our fellowship; and when we think we our way is the only way.
When you go to worship, pray, repent, consecrate yourself in preparation for meeting a holy God. Clear and clean your mind. Go into worship prayerfully asking what you can give, how you can serve, and what you will hear that is applicable to your life. God already knows YOUR need and He will supply that and more when we really worship Him in spirit and truth.
In your journal, write how you have sinned by not preparing for worship. Also write how you have sinned by putting your selfish desires regarding the church over what God wants and deems important.
Pray: Jehovah Shammah, the Ever-Present Lord, forgive me for treating worship as a common thing. Forgive me for bringing my own strange fire into Your Presence. My preferences, my desires, my sin-stained heart. Forgive me when I approach worship as a consumer rather than a committed servant. Teach me how I can spend the entire week preparing for that day each week when I join with others to worship You. Show me where I fall short and I will obey.
