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Devotional For The Week – 25 August 2008 Sermon Title: True Worship Requires Commitment Singaporeans are familiar with the term ‘5 Cs’. They represent five things a successful person strives to acquire: Car, Credit Card, Condominium, Cash and Country Club. For today’s sermon, we look into two other Cs; Convenience and Commitment In the last decade, with improvement in the service industry and modern technology, people reap many benefits of convenience. For example, one can pay bills electronically via the postal services, internet banking or bill collection machines like AXS or SAM (Self-Automated Machine). They are all strategically and conveniently created for end users. Sadly, convenience has now also affected churches. In the book ‘True Worship’, the author cites that as people become more sophisticated, worshippers tend to go ‘church shopping’. People select and attend churches that are convenient to them. If they find the worship service not to their liking, they move to another church the following week. The question now is, is ‘church shopping’ or ‘trendy worship’ accepted? We need to search within us how we are to respond to this trend. Let us study the text from 1 Samuel 1:19-28 about the life of Hannah and her family and her faith in the Living God. True worship requires commitment. Hannah was deeply loved by her husband Elkanah even though he had another wife, Peninah who was able to bear children for her husband. However, Hannah grieved over her barrenness because it brought disgrace to the family in her time. Even today, some traditional families do not look kindly on a woman’s barrenness. Hannah, in her agony, turned to God in deep prayer and asked God to consider her misery. It is not uncommon for us to feel pain and struggle. How then should we respond and resolve such situations? What lesson can we learn? 1. Seek God in worship. In Hannah’s example, she pleaded with God to remember her. We know that God is not far from us and we can turn to Him to seek hope and comfort. We need to know how to desire a deep relationship with God in time of our pain, struggle and need. 2. Respond to God in worship. Hannah had not only asked God for the gift of a child. She anticipated God’s blessing and was prepared even to dedicate the child to a lifetime of service in the Lord. She responded in an attitude of thanksgiving and worship. As parents, we should consider baptising our child as an expression of our faith in God, letting God watch and guide the child in his or her development over the years. This is how we can respond to God in worship, remembering God as the giver, paving the way for the child to integrate into the life in church service at a young age. 3. Keep the vow to God in worship. The act of worship requires commitment. In Hannah’s case she honoured and fulfilled her vows to God in dedicating Samuel to God’s service. Elkanah and Hannah brought sacrifices to God annually without fail as a commitment. Each vow we make to the Lord is a commitment. We need to remember ‘a commitment is a commitment’ and it should be fulfilled. Do we remember the vows we have made before God over our years? Have we vowed to love God, to pledge and tithe in our giving? Have we kept our commitment? Have we made a commitment to pray and read the Bible consistently and serve God in His ministry? Have we kept our marriage vows? Let us therefore not be slow in fulfilling the vows we have made to God in worship. In conclusion, let us re-visit the 2 Cs: convenience and commitment. In our worship of God the Almighty, we must not allow convenience to take precedence over our commitment. Commitment requires self-giving and honouring God in keeping the vows, and being committed to one another. Do we still ‘church shop” for convenience or succumb to peer pressure? God is looking for true worshipful hearts that will honour Him. Prayer Response Lord, we confess before You our shortcomings in keeping the vows and commitments we have made to You. You know our strongholds and our lack of discipline in fulfilling our commitments. You know our weaknesses in keeping the faith. We thank You for infilling us with Your Holy Spirit to strengthen us in our daily walk with You to fulfill our commitments. We offer You our hearts in worship to You today. Devotional based on a sermon by Rev Lee Yam Kai
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