Thoughts on Volleyball and Worship

Colossians 3:23-24 (King James Version)

23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; 24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

I just finished watching the USA women’s volleyball game against Korea. It was fun to watch each of the players giving their all on every play. I have always loved volleyball either watching it or playing it.

Over the years I have played volleyball at different levels.  When you play “pickup games” where people just kind of join your team as they walk in, you never know who you will get or what skill level you will find.

Over the years I have noticed a couple kinds of people in sports. Those who give it their all and those who just wait for the ball to come to them.

The first kind, those who give it their all are ones who seek to get in the game, to play with all of their ability and not hold back. By playing with all they have they get a lot more out of the game. They are the ones you can count on to be “in the game.”

The other kind, those who just wait passively, really ruin the game. They just don’t have their heart in the game. They just show up. And then they are disappointed when they don’t get any enjoyment out of the game.

They generally don’t come back every week.

Let’s take a moment and compare our volleyball experience with our own worship experience.

Did you know that people come to worship with the same kind of attitudes?

Some folks think that somehow they will experience worship if they just show up. They don’t necessarily prepare for the morning, they come without a sense of expectation, and seem to think that somehow God is happy to see that they made it to His house.

But by thinking worship will just “happen” to them, they never really experience it. They never get into it, they never give themselves or put themselves into the service.

As a result, they go away empty and wonder why.

But the others, who give it their all…what do they experience?

They experience God Himself. They get up on Sunday morning (and just about every morning for that matter) and look for God. They are hungry for God. They don’t just want “a little bit of God” but they want all of Him.

And as a consequence, they enter their Sunday experience with a sense of “giving all of themselves” to God.

Which are you? Do you go to worship with a hunger for God or do you just “shown up” hoping that you will experience worship?

Dear Lord, we pray that we would go to worship with the right motives. We pray that we would give ourselves to You. Help us to desire You above anything. In Jesus Name. Amen.