I heard something the other day that caught my attention, a countdown
timer. I listened to a story of a life
changed by worshipping every 10 minutes as the timer “buzzed”. At first I was a bit bemused at the concept of
using a literal timer, set for 10 minutes, as a reminder to stop and to worship
Him (whether out loud or quietly within).
I thought to myself, why a countdown timer as a reminder to
worship?
"Come, now is the time to worship
Come, now is the time to give your heart
Come, just as you are to worship
Come, just as you are before your God
Come" (Don Moen)
Come, now is the time to give your heart
Come, just as you are to worship
Come, just as you are before your God
Come" (Don Moen)
I began to consider a few questions about the purpose of a timer as a
prompt to worship. The most basic
question was: What exactly is worship anyway?
I think the church has been guilty of reducing worship to the mere
verbal expressions, the songs sung while in church. Do I see the need for a timer as a prompt to
SING? No.
However, what about the non-verbal expressions of our heart and our very
lives?
Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, “believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:21b-24, RSV)
The
next questions was, Could using a timer, create a life of gradual and consistent
worship? Would this turn an ordinary
life into something more meaningful, beautiful and life-giving as the awareness
of God around you and within you was recognized throughout the mundane moments
of every day?
There
is always a battle for intimacy with God and finding the time to develop that
close relationship. But what if, the use
of a timer, allowed the carving out of moments throughout each day that brought
such a sense of His presence like no other?
To
those of you wondering, yes, I have purchased a timer. I felt I had nothing to lose by trying this
for one month and I have much to gain.
It
has been 2 days and I have set the timer for every hour where I worship Him and
remind myself of His great and glorious promises. I may reduce this to 30 minutes and then 20
and then 10.
Change
doesn’t happen overnight but this may be a catalyst for even greater intimacy
than I can ever imagine.
