Have you ever thought about what do you pay for worship? I know, I know, you are thinking what a weird question. But bare with me. I am not talking about a financial cost. I am talking spiritually what have you paid for worship.
I want to look very briefly at an account in scripture where we see this exact situation taking place and from this account I want to see three things we should be willing to pay for our worship.
2 Samuel 24:18-25 is the account under our consideration. We see here towards the end of King David's life David is told to erect an altar to the Lord at the threshing floor from a man named Araunah. Upon arrival Araunah, knowing what the threshing floor will be used for is willing to give David the threshing floor for free. David responds with this statement in verse 24, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing." This statement offers us a valuable lesson. Do we offer worship to God that costs us nothing?
With this in mind I want to consider three things that worship should cost us.
First is our time and energy: We should be willing to offer, or to pay, our time and energy for our worship to God. Think of these scenarios: How often do people miss worship for sporting events or other leisure activities. What about this one: You work six days a week and Sunday is your day to sleep in. When we are not willing to pay our time and energy for worship there is a serious problem.
We should also be willing to pay preparation. How often do you find yourself in a situation where you rush out the door to go to worship, you forgot your Bible so you turn around to grab it and you slip into worship at 9:33. It takes you another 10 minutes to get situated and in the right mind frame for worship. How much of this problem could be solved if we were willing to pay the price of preparation for our worship? What does that preparation look like. Maybe leaving 10 minutes early. Maybe getting up earlier. Maybe setting out clothes for the morning. Maybe praying or listening to an audio Bible on the way to worship. Everyones situation is unique but we should be willing to pay preparation for our worship.
Last we should be willing to pay the price of forsaking ourselves for worship. Worship should not be an after thought or something we do just because our parents told us or it is what we have always done. It should be done intentionally and with purpose. That requires forsaking our own wants and needs knowing how important worship is.
Are you willing to pay the price for worship?
The price of your time and energy
The price of preparation
The price of forsaking ourselves
If we are not willing to pay this price, we need to realize God does not want worship that costs us nothing. As we worship God this Sunday let us think about the price we pay, and always remember the price HE paid for us to be in the position we are in.