Tuesday, August 10th, 2021

We all have so much to be thankful for, and most of us, when we say our prayers each day, commit time to thanking the Lord for specific things in our lives. Thankfulness is a wonderful thing, but it is not everything to the Lord, nor is it even the most important form of worship. In Luke, it says, “Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.” The disciples were fixating on the beauty of the temple itself, and likely remarking about how dedicated they were to God because of their gifts. Jesus refocused them on what was important about the building – the worship inside of it! Jesus knew that the temple would not stand the test of time, nor would any single stone or gift. But faithfulness and obedience to the Lord will. The same is true in our own lives: when we focus too much of our worship on thanking the Lord for the things He’s given us, we mistake that as the most important part of our relationship with Jesus. When we get caught up in just the specific blessings from God, we fail to see the bigger picture of His hand at work in our lives. We focus our sight on the things he’s given us rather than the places he’s taking us. Thus, our greatest worship is not in our thanking for the blessings, but in our obedience, devotion, and faithfulness throughout our lives. Today, give thanks to the Lord, but remember that faithfulness, obedience, and devotion are the defining characteristics of worship.

“Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said,”As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”