The Intimacy of Worship

Guys give love to get sex.
Girls give sex to get love.

These are basic relational truths. Hear me out before you behead me for heresy, but we enact this in our worship.

God created us for worship. He does not need us; we hardly benefit Him by our lives, but when, in our free will, we seek his heart - we fulfill our purpose. He longs for our love. And when we worship, we offer intimacy. We come vulnerable, uncovering all we are, laying all at his feet in an expression of passionate love. One of the most stunning accounts of this is the anointing of Jesus:

 "Then Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard, very precious, and poured it at Jesus's feet, and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment." The onlookers protested, saying the extravagant gift was a waste and should have been sold to provide money to the poor. "But Jesus said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me." (John 12:3, Matt. 26:10)

True worship is a breathtaking act of intimacy with God, and "the Father seeketh such to worship Him." (John 4:23). God enters this act with a foundation of committed love. In the hand he extends there is a scar that testifies to his passion. His grace. His sacrifice. He offers everything and then asks for our intimacy.

How often do we struggle through the week, fail on the weekend, and rush to church to make it barely in time for the last couple of songs? We find our seats and whisper hushed helloes, then snap to attention in "worship" mode. We sing and we raise our hands, and we wonder why God doesn't meet with us.
We just withheld our affection but rushed into the bedroom and demanded sex. And it is revolting to God.

"When you come to appear before Me, who asks this of you - this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing useless offerings. Your incense is detestable to me...I hate your New Moons and prescribed festivals [traditions and shows], they have become a burden to me; I am tired of putting up with them. When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will refuse to look at you; even if you offer countless prayers, I will not listen." (Isaiah 1:12-15).

Like a man forcing himself on a woman, pushing for the sex he wants without regard to the love she craves, we ask God to meet with us in intimacy but we do not offer our committed love. To his glory, He is gracious. But such "worship" makes Him sick.

How much more precious to bring Him our pound of ointment, our two small coins - an offering that bears the scar of our passion, the marks of sacrifice - and to have Jesus say of us, "She has done a beautiful thing to me," "she out of her poverty hath done all that she can." And it is there, surrounded by love, that He meets us.