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.