April 20 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

The Preacher takes us down various avenues in his quest to find the meaning of life. These roads prove to be dead-end streets from an under-the-sun perspective. Work, pleasure and relationships are meaningless and bring nothing but heartache and headaches if we do not have an above-the-sun perspective. The same is true of worship and religion. The Preacher sees the throngs coming to the house of the Lord for worship and he observes that not all is well. This can easily happen. We may be very busy with what appears to be above-the-sun activities and be known as moral, spiritual and religious people, but still be missing the point. This is what the Preacher warns against. To avoid being religious fools we need to walk prudently and guard our steps when we go to the house of God. It is not a trivial thing to set foot in the house of the Lord.

When we guard our steps we come to understand that our whole worship experience does not begin with ourselves or how we feel; it is not about what we want to get out of worship. We may be very familiar with all that goes on during a worship service because we have been in the gathering of God’s people since we were very young. That is why we need to stay alert! We gather together to worship the living God and that demands our full attention. Worship is a matter of obedience to Christ—every element of worship points to His redemptive work. The focus of true worship is on Jesus. All worship is meaningless if the Lord Jesus and His sin-forgiving grace are not kept front and centre.

The Preacher sees religious people taking their animals to the temple and offering them to God with great fanfare. They make their vows, pray impressive prayers, and they receive the blessing of the community for being good and moral people. But if worship is not from the heart, it is the sacrifice of fools.

Walk wisely and guard your steps as you go to the house of the Lord! You are privileged to be in the presence of the living God because of what you are given by grace in Christ. Guard your steps because something amazing is going on while you are there! You encounter God and experience the beauty of His holiness.