Nothing Hidden

Would it be a revelation to say change doesn't happen apart from God?

You can be different and never change. There's something significant about the difference between knowing something and knowing someone. We can have books and books about a person, but never know who they are. And it's the same with ourselves. How do we know about ourselves, though, unless we take a step back?

The idea of worship hits a nerve with quite a few people. If you call anyone an idolater these days you can usually get into a bit of trouble. I see worship like breathing. If you're not breathing oxygen (and various other gases found in our atmosphere today) you're breathing something else. You can't breathe nothing. If you're drowning you end up trying to breathe water. If you're in a vacuum you try breathing anyway. To remove the atmosphere and replace it with something else doesn't mean we would stop breathing, it just means we start breathing something else.

Worship's like that. If you're not worshipping one thing you're worshipping another. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Our bodies were designed to worship. Our souls were designed to worship. To refer to nothing hidden in the title is no mere act of an aim to confuse whoever I can. Nothing hidden is an attitude toward God. God wants us to worship Him, that is how he designed our relationship with Him. The trouble is we have ruined our relationship with Him. Jesus didn't die and rise to help us have a relationship with God, we already had a relationship with Him, just it was rubbish and irreconcilable, we have done some terrible things. I've done some terrible things.

Jesus has done this restoration work, meaning He presents us to His Father, and if we believe Our Father, and we can start seeing Him for who He is and worshipping Him so.

We become what we worship. So the challenge comes when we want to worship God, but there's stuff in the way. Jesus dealt with it, but it must be let out to be dealt with. We must come to God entirely transparent. David's greatest prayers were his arguments with God. "Why am I suffering and my enemies living in abundance?" he would complain to God. Then he would go into the inner sanctuary, go to the presence of the Most High God, and everything would be at peace with his soul. Without the (first) frustration we can't have the (second) peace.

I suppose I'm coming to my conclusion, that we as worshippers must worship in spirit and truth. That means coming through Truth (Jesus) and having or spirits put in tune with God. As a community we must have a transparent, "nothing hidden" attitude, and allow God to shape our lives.