Articles
Worthiness and the Heart
A study conducted by the Pew Research Center and the Public Religion Research Institute back in April 2020, discovered that 30% of worshippers didn’t attend the virtual worship that their religious institution provided. A year into the pandemic many people are still worshipping at home. With this in mind, it is easy to claim that virtual attendees are at higher risk of distractions during worship. Sitting in a building is not what signifies you as a worshipper of God (John 4:24, Rom. 12:1). King Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 30:10-22 is proof that the physical aspect of doctrinal worship isn’t what God values most, it is the spiritual.
King Hezekiah and his counsel were God-fearing men who decided to observe Passover in the second month because they had not been able to gather the people in Jerusalem and consecrate enough priests in time to observe it in the first month (2 Chron. 30:1-4). Hezekiah told any God-fearing person to come to Jerusalem to observe the Passover together in worship (2 Chron. 30:6-9 and 11-13). Unfortunately, there was not enough time to consecrate all the people that came to Jerusalem for the Passover (2 Chron. 30:17) thus, they were presented with a lose-lose situation. The Israelites had to choose whether keep the Passover in an ungodly way or forsake the Passover altogether like those who chose disobedience (2 Chron. 30:11). Yet, because king Hezekiah prayed for the people of Israel and God saw their hearts were truly being given to Him (2 Chron. 30:18), God chose to have mercy and make an exception.
The problem today is not whether we can attend services in person or virtually, but whether worshipping God is becoming a chore in our hearts. Whether in a pandemic or not, the reason we worship is to humble ourselves in love and devotion to the Creator. In order for our worship to be loving and devoted to God, it is important to understand the true meaning of what it is to live by grace with faith. When a worshipper recognizes the power, love, and mercy of God (John 15:9-17) and then lives their life in a manner worthy of Jesus’ sacrifice (Gal. 5), that is when they are embodying these words. Worshippers get caught up in the humility of whether, “I am worthy or not” and it blinds them to the significance of living in unity with Christ (John 15:4-6). In all that we do, every believer in God must ask themselves, what is my heart focused on?
