One of my favorite quotes comes from John Piper, pastor and author, (Desiring God), “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” His point is that the ultimate reason we would want to engage anyone at all in knowing God, is that God is so incredible that the only right response to being alive is to worship, love, and serve this awesome God.
So, no wonder we find statements in the Bible such as:
“Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.” Psalm 113:2,3
It’s as if the writer can’t get enough of God, of honoring God, of praising God. So, he’s compelled to invite us into that experience.
Last week, Libby and I vacationed with some friends on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. They had just bought a beautiful, waterfront house in a nice cove, complete with a family of loons. It was awesome. As a glacial lake, surrounded by mountains, it has many small coves, bays, harbors and little finger-like areas. It would be easy to be there and not know how huge the lake is, twenty miles long, at one point nine miles wide, with 274 islands and 288 miles of shore line. I talked about it last night at The Gathering Church, suggesting that unless we get out of the ‘cove’ in our relationship with God we might never know how incredibly huge God is.
Bottom-line: I want more of God. That’s the only thing that makes sense. To know and worship this incredible Creator and Redeemer.
May our hearts not settle for anything less.
PS. You know what? I would love to share Lake Winnipesaukee with tons of people. It’s such a cool place, and others got interested in it as I talked about it. I think that my enthusiasm was contagious. You think there’s a lesson in that?