"Today's Special" (Lessons from a restaurant, Part 1)

A few weeks ago after church, I was standing in the foyer talking with a couple of friends of mine. As we were talking, I looked over and noticed our oldest daughter Macayla, was writing something on the dry-erase board. I stopped talking to focus on what she was working on. This is what it said...

Today's Special:
Worship God

My friends and I got a chuckle out of it. But I also thought it was pretty cool that she came up with that on her own. After all...that's what it's all about, right?

I don't know about you, but there are a lot of times that we will call the local pizza places around here and before we place the order, we will ask them..."Do you have any specials right now?" In other words, we want to get the best deal! Or how about when you go to a nicer restaurant. The waitress will come out and tell you about the "specials" that they have even before ordering your drinks. It could be that maybe some item is less expensive on that particular night, or maybe they just want you to try something new, something different. And you may end up choosing the "special" for that day, or you may go with something else.

It's sad that in our churches today, that the special sometimes is not just to worship God and to worship Him only. Those of you that have been in church for any length of time know what I'm talking about. It may seem a lot more like this:

Today's Special:
ME

C'mon, you know it's true. It's true for me, and it's true for you. How often do we walk through the church building to make our way to our seat, that our main focus is...me. It can be anything from what our hair looks like, clothes we put on our kids, who I'm going to sit by, who I DON'T want to sit by, wonder what drama people have heard this week, what's for lunch after church, the crying baby next to you, the hot preacher (oops, sorry, I let that slip! for those of you that don't know...I'm married to the guy! :), how tired we are, and the list goes on and on. I could add to this, but I will let you make your own list.

Let's be honest...do these things really matter? I won't say they don't matter at all, but they sure don't need to take the place of today's special...and that is to just "worship God". That's it. Nothing else. That's why we go to church, right? Well, it should be anyway. All the other things that we put our focus on...which is anything other than God, is not healthy worship to the One that gave us life. He deserves better than that.

We don't eat at Olive Garden that often anymore because my husband has diabetes and it's just not good for him. But the times that we have, I love it when they offer the "all you can eat pasta special". They don't have it all the time though. Isn't it nice to know that "Worshipping God" is not only today's special, but tomorrow's special and the day after that as well? So if all these years, you've been going to church or living your life with all the "specials" the world tempts you with, how about trying something new, something different and accepting today's special and just simply worship God. Try it...I think you'll like it.

John 4:23-24