I have tried more times than I can count to read through the Bible in a year. I think the best I’ve done on such a plan has been about three weeks. And then life gets in the way and it becomes easy to say, “Well, it’s just a few chapters. I can catch up tomorrow.” And then tomorrow comes and I get further behind. This year, I’m trying something a bit more challenging. I’m reading through the Bible in 90 days. So far, I’m on track. But there’s no temptation to “catch up” tomorrow because the reading load is already heavy. You have to make sure you keep up or the cause is lost. These kinds of challenges always seem to work better for me. As they say, “Go big or go home.”

Last night I read through several chapters from Exodus. In chapter 23, God is giving to Moses instructions for the three major feasts and in verse 15, God says, “None shall appear before me empty-handed.” That phrase appears three more times in Exodus and Deuteronomy (Exodus 34:20, Deuteronomy 15:13, and Deuteronomy 16:16). It caused me to stop and think about the times I go before the Lord. Am I entering into my private worship times empty-handed? How about family worship times? Corporate worship? What do I offer to the Lord when I go before Him? This passage reminded me of something I wrote here at IsaiahSix some time ago.

This has even larger implications for those of us who lead corporate worship. We have to teach our congregations that coming to the Lord empty-handed is not acceptable. We no longer offer the blood of goats and bulls–Christ’s final sacrifice took care of that requirement–but each time we enter the presence of the Lord, we come offering ourselves. We offer our hearts, our souls, our minds, and our strength (Mark 12:29-31). And if we do go before Him empty-handed, well then, we haven’t really gone at all.

Impacting the Kingdom Through Worship,

 

P.S.–Randy Alcorn has a helpful article on this subject on his blog.