GOD IS EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING

"Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power . . . When He has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all." (1
Corinthians 15:24, 28)

"After Arturo Toscanini finished conducting a brilliant performance of Beethoven's Symphony, the audience rose to its feet and applauded, shouting its delight. But Toscanini waved his arms violently for it all to stop. He turned to the orchestra and shouted hoarsely, 'You are nothing!' He pointed to himself and shouted, 'I am nothing!' Then he shouted, 'Beethoven, is everything, everything, everything.'

Christian worship must say, 'God is everything, everything, everything.'What we do on Sunday mornings (or whenever we gather), the order of events and the manner in which we enact the drama, must always point to God, must reinforce again and again that God has taken the initiative and called us together, that God's grace is more important than our sin, that God's will is more important than our desires, and that God's glorification is more important that our edification.

All worship ought to be ordered toward God; service should be put together in a way that keeps our attention centered on God. As we look up to the One seated on the throne, we lose sight of everything else; the Holy God commands and consumes our attention. What we really need when we show up for worship is for our attention to be turned toward the glory of God . . . it is only then, before the Holy One that our deepest needs will be met, for only then will we enter into our full humanity as sons and daughters of God."

Written by Donald McCullough in the daily devotional HOW GREAT THOU ART, published by Multnomah.