habakkuk 1:15-17

15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,
he catches them in his net,
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
and so he rejoices and is glad.

16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and burns incense to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
and enjoys the choicest food.

17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
destroying nations without mercy?

so, habakukk was saying that the babyalonians worshiped what brought them profit. kind of interesting to see, since when you think of it, we all do the EXACT same thing. When you think of it, what devours our attention? for me, the struggle of not letting my mind be devoured by the oh so uncertain financial situations i am in now, the uncertain relationships i am in, the moving of siblings, the death of friends, all these things. they don't just prick my attention, but combined, they devour my mind. Then came the realization that that is most of what worship is, in the biblical sense.

The reason why i think having your mind devoured is a lot of what worshiping is, is this: Christianity is a relationship with jesus, not a practice, it is living. the acts of service that we try and force ourselves to do,sicne we feel commanded to do them, why is it that i get feelings of guilt when i do not do these acts of service? I mean, jesus bears my guilt and my shame. so, why do i have guilt attacking me? simple, i am putting it on myself and am thinking that i owe God something, when in reality, i owe God nothing. A free gift of grace was given to me that i not only cannot pay back, but have no obligation to pay it back. The act of love makes me desire to give myself to God in everything, but i have no obligation to. This gift does not bind me to anything.

The center of the christanity is relationship. What is the primary thing that we use to build relationships? communication. with that said, that makes prayer and the bible the center of the christian life. Prayer is how we communicate with God and the bible is one of many ways he communicates with us. With that said, what is it like when you start talking to someone, spending time with them, and actually start to get to know them? isn't like an incredibly emotional high that just carries you? there is so much happening, you are getting to know them in so many ways that you just never saw possible before when you were just looking at them. That is what prayer has done. realizing that the way i used to formally and systematically pray, if i talked to my girlfriend that way, she would think i was crazy and stupid. Why do we surpress the things that worry us most and try to get the things that we think are good out in prayer first, this or that, God says he wants to meet the desires of our heart. David pranced around naked to praise God and God saw it fit to slam that into the bible. so, obviously there is something to be said for spontaneity in worship, let alone in conversation.

Relationships affect every area of our life and lifestyle. There is nothing that is left untouched in a healthy relationship, marriage consumes you. Marriage is supposed to be a thing that is an analogy of Christ's relationship for the church, that's you and me buddy. Christ is absolutely devoted and occupied with us, hell, that is why the bible was written, for a relationship with us. The bible is pretty consuming. All this said, relationship is the basis of Christnaity, to worship God is to have a relationship with him and to grow in him through that relationship. In my opinion, to worship God is the be consumed by him. We worship was we see the most profit in, jobs, money, sex, ect. What is all of our profit is coming from christ? kind of makes us worship him by default, doesn't it?