The Cost of Worship

"I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing."  2 Samuel 24:24

As read this verse this morning, a question popped into my mind -- What is my worship costing me?  That question was quickly followed by another one -- What sacrifices am I bringing to God?  David did not want his worship to be without cost, sacrifice or meaning.  He was vested in his worship to God.  It has been my experience that when we have something vested in our worship it becomes meaningful.  We have missed this.  I have missed this.  Worship has become too comfortable.  It has no meaning because it does not cost us anything.  There is no sacrifice involved in our worship.  Some would say that it does cost time, but what is time?  For the average Christian, worship has become what they do on a Sunday morning.  It is not a part of their daily life.  What has happen is we have relegated worship to a compartment in our life.  Worship goes alongside the God compartment and the church compartment.  It is another part of our life but it is not our life.  When we do this, we suck the life out of worship and quench the Holy Spirit.  Because we are unwilling to give all of ourselves to God through worship, we suffer in our intimacy with our Savior.  We have reduce worship to a feeling or a style as opposed to a response to the movement of the Holy Spirit.

Fasting by Scot McKnight

Fasting is a disappearing discipline in the lives of the modern American church.  Many today think that fasting has gone by the wayside or is only for the super spiritual.  Scot McKnight sheds new light on this old discipline and breathes new life and purpose in it for the modern believer.  Having studied other works by Dallas Willard and Richard Foster on spiritual disciplines, I was intrigued to review this book specifically on fasting.  The approach the McKnight took was unique.  I think overall, the book nails the reason to fast.  In a nutshell, McKnight suggests and biblically supports that fasting is a response to God's activity.  I had never thought about fasting in this way.  I had always taken the "traditional" approach to fasting that says you fast in order to hear from or become more focused on God.  McKnight spends considerable time discussing the different aspects of fasting as well.  I think this is a great book to get exposed to the practice and discipline of fasting.  He goes to great lengths to discuss the practice of biblical fasting as well.  In this discussion he talks about duration and frequency.  That alone is worth the read.  I highly recommend this book to those who are looking to go deeper in their walk with God.

I received this book for free to review from Book Sneeze.