Adore

I love Christmas music. I have a playlist on my ipod dedicated solely to Christmas music…and it has been on repeat since mid-November. Last Sunday I went to a church in Pittsburgh. We sang a few Christmas songs. I had almost forgotten how much better it is to sing Christmas songs in church instead of in my car on the way to work. There is something almost magical and entirely holy about singing songs about Jesus’ birth with other believers.

In my car, with my ipod, it’s pretty easy to get lost in singing my favorite songs, and forget the meaning behind them. Forget the fact that these songs are all about the night that started our story of redemption- songs that sing about the birth of a King who ultimately died for the sins of the world. Pretty powerful songs.

As I was marveling at this, we started to sing "Oh Come all Ye Faithful". Part way into it, we stopped as someone shared what was on her heart. She asked us to sing, "Oh come let us adore Him" with an image in our hearts. An image of us bringing a gift this Christmas to our Lord whom we adore.

I could easily imagine giving God a gift- I could picture a beautifully wrapped box with a big bow on it. But I couldn't picture what was inside the box. What do I have that God wants? What gift could I possibly give him?

The definition of adore is to "pay devine honor to" or "love intensely". What would show my intense love? What could I give that would pay devine honor to?

I started thinking of other things I adore- how tightly I hold on to them. I adore having control in my life. I adore succeeding in my job. I adore my family and my friends. I adore Myanmar. Not all of these are bad things, but when I think of what I should be paying devine honor to, none of these come to mind. I think adore has become one of those words we use too easily. God is the only one I should be paying devine honor to.

So this Christmas season, I am going to Adore the Lord by putting Him in His rightful place in my life. He will be the sole thing my heart adores. What do you find your heart adoring this holiday season?

Oh come, let us adore HIM alone!