Embracing the Craziness

"If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to GOD..." — 2 Corinthians 5:13, New Living

As far as we know, the woman who broke the alabaster jar and poured all the costly contents over Jesus was not singing, raising her hands, or dancing in the front row. But it was extravagant, over-the-top worship nonetheless; and while it stirred God’s heart, it caused some to say, “what a waste.”

As far as we know, Jonathan and his armor bearer weren’t doing any singing, hand-raising, or dancing on their way to risk their lives and rout the Philistine camp while the rest of his father’s warriors were hanging back. But it was extravagant worship nonetheless; and it stirred God’s heart yet can cause our supposedly sensible mind to read and think, “Man, are you crazy? What are you doing?!”

You can fairly quickly find Biblical definitions of things like faith, hope, and love. Not so worship. Men and women have tried for centuries but have never quite been able to find enough or the right words, or simply cannot wrap their arms and mind around it all. Worship, the kind that is lived full-on because you know that you know deep down inside that it's in Christ alone "we live and move and have our being," can't be contained because God can't be contained. Which means that extravagant worship can't be contained in 20 minutes of inspired singing, or relegated to only those who sing or play an instrument, or who do so the loudest, or who have no problem expressing themselves to God. In fact, as Jonathan and the woman with the alabaster jar prove, music isn't even required.

Extravagant worship isn't just a Sunday morning thing, either, although it can certainly begin then and there. Except that it's not confined by four church walls, knows no particular church denomination, and is irrespective of personality type. It can be any and everything you do, and anywhere you are. And while it cannot be put in a box with a nice bow on top, it does look something like this:

"...Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him." (Romans 12:1, The Message)

Or, in the words of one of the great pastors in my life:

Worship is "the constant conscious awareness of the presence of God."

I think that definition comes as close as any, and yet it is much more than that, even. Extravagant worship is what happens when a man or woman chooses to go all-in on the Greatest Commandment, believing that to love the Lord with all you are goes way beyond Sunday or a noble idea, and is a call to action to daily cultivate child-Father relationship that overflows into love for and service to others (whatever your job, calling, or passion).

What is strangely wonderful is that when that relationship, even through seasons of fits and starts, is nurtured and pursued over months, over years, any sense of "I have to because, well, I have to" somehow transforms into a consistent, mysteriously wonderful "want to." And it's rooted in a place so far down within, you can't even begin to locate it. Or explain it. But it's there and it's relentless, because that's who He is, and it keeps bubbling up to the surface seeking to drown with Love all that is ultimately superfluous and temporary...and not only that, it can be life-changing for someone, even you. 

LORD, it is good to remember that the woman with the alabaster jar and Jonathan, and a whole multitude of men and women who have gone before us, are not the freaks, the exceptions, or the too-heavenly-minded-to-do-any-earthly-good types. Each have been world-changers in their own way. Who doesn't want that? So, this morning, yes Lord, it will be good to sing like never before. Better still to remember that a lifestyle of extravagant worship is probably meant to be normal rather than the exception, authentic and not weird. Let me embrace the craziness, and remember that when the voices in my head try to argue,"What a waste. What are you doing?!," I can know that You are cheering me on louder still.

“God is so vastly wonderful, so utterly and completely delightful, that He can, without anything other than Himself, meet and overflow the deepest demands of our total nature, mysterious and deep as that nature is.”― A.W. Tozer

(Updated from November 2015)