Genesis 12:8 New International Version (NIV)
8 From there he went on toward the hills east of
Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on
the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name
of the Lord.
Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be
careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from
God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and
offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard it
for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was
hoarded (see Exodus 16:20). God will never allow you to keep a spiritual
blessing completely for yourself. It must be given back to Him so that He can
make it a blessing to others.
Bethel is the symbol of fellowship with God; Ai is the
symbol of the world. Abram “pitched his tent” between the two. The lasting
value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of
our private times of fellowship and oneness with Him. Rushing in and out of
worship is wrong every time— there is always plenty of time to worship God.
Days set apart for quiet can be a trap, detracting from the need to have daily
quiet time with God. That is why we must “pitch our tents” where we will always
have quiet times with Him, however noisy our times with the world may be. There
are not three levels of spiritual life— worship, waiting, and work. Yet some of
us seem to jump like spiritual frogs from worship to waiting, and from waiting
to work. God’s idea is that the three should go together as one. They were
always together in the life of our Lord and in perfect harmony. It is a discipline
that must be developed; it will not happen overnight.
Thought for today:
Do I consistently present my best, and if not, can I catch myself in the midst
of my mistakes and pray for correction?
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