Remember who you are…
These are the words uttered by Mufasa from one of my favorite movies, The Lion King. Mufasa is reminding Simba where he came from, who his family is, and who he truly is; not what he wants to be, not what others think of him, not what others say he is, but who he truly is.
In our daily lives, we are called to remember who God is and not what we want Him to be, not who others say He is but to remember who He is. This is important to do because we are prone to wander and produce our own theology of who God is and what He is like based off many life experiences, needs, wants, frustrations, conveniences, and personal agendas.
We must look to the word of God to understand what God has already revealed about Himself. By doing so, we realign ourselves with a proper lens of who God is and what He is like. Now, this is not an easy task which is why in our worship, we repeatedly retell the story of God and proclaim the truths of scripture. In other words, worship remembers the past, present, and future of God’s redemption story.
In remembering the past, present, and future of God, we retell the Gospel. This is part of our worship! Proclaiming the good news of the past, present, and future is an act of worship. In songs, scriptures, prayers, small groups, bible studies, we also remember that we were once lost and now found. Remembering the past, present, and future includes you as well; we all were lost and now found. We worship Him because of this. We too are a part of the past, present, and future of God’s story.
You may not realize this, but the Lakewood staff strives to implement the past, present, and future every single time we gather together. We are intentional about this because it is very formational for all of us. Therefore, we pray the Lord’s prayer together, we recite the Psalms together, we sing together, we listen to sermons together, because the past present and future all play a key role in becoming more like Christ.
We forget (even over the span of a few days) the past, present, and future of what God has done. We forget that it is God who changes hearts, not us. We forget that we cannot do everything on our own. We forget that we need Him. We forget about others. We forget what God has done in our lives and the lives around us. We forget easily and often.
Therefore, our worship must remember the past, present, and future of God’s redemption story because we are all a part of that story and wants others to be aware, they are a part of it too.
How can we worship during COVID-19? We can worship by remembering the past, present, and future of God’s redemption story.
My challenge to you this week is this: take time alone and with those around you to remember what God has done in the past, what He is doing right now, and what He has promised to do in the future.