Purest Praise

Mark 1:35 (ESV)
35  And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

I am trying to imagine what one of those times between Jesus and His Father must have been like. I am sure it was absent of religious cliches. There was no need. Jesus talked with His Father. They had a real relationship. Their conversations were not filled with pretense but natural. Devoid of the religious chatter we so often hear in praying. Just a Son talking to His Father. Those times must have been intimate, real, informative, inspirational, and worshipful.

It is that worship that I am meditating on today. Jesus adoring His Father. Jesus praising Jehovah. Jesus exalting Yahweh. Jesus offering the purest praise that has ever been offered by anyone at anytime. Pure praise. Sinless praise. Undistracted praise. Selfless praise. Sincere praise.

I know followers of Jesus praise. We do it privately and publicly. Can any of boast that we have ever praised God like Jesus did? Can any of point to an unwavering devotion and a perfect love like Jesus had? I have to constantly fight battles in my mind to stay focused in prayer and worship. Sometimes I catch myself singing the words but not engaging the heart. That is not pure worship.

Jesus could offer the purest praise because He had the purest heart. He also had perfect knowledge of His Father. Not only that, but no-one ever lived more surrendered to the will of God than He did. He also maintained a perfect communion. That is why He got up and left the crowds to be alone to commune with His Father.

While we may not have those things like Jesus, but we can do better. We can love Him more. We can surrender more. We can serve Him more. We can live more holy. We can be more devout. And with God's help we can offer sincere and pure praise.

Think about that for a moment. What if the next time you gather for worship, if you did so with a pure heart, and offered the purest sincerest praise you ever have before? What if you were surrounded by others who did the same thing? What would that worship experience be like? It is what we must strive for. Pure worship. Pure praise.

While our worship will never match up to Jesus' worship it sure can be richer and deeper. In order for that to happen one thing we have to do. We have to take our focus off other people and get our focus exclusively on Jesus and Jehovah. When we can solely give our hearts and attention to them our worship will be pure. It will not matter what others think if we sing a little off key, miss a word here and there, lift our hands or weep we will not care what others think of us doing those things. We will be lost in the wonder of worship of the only One who matters. I long for that. I want to strive for that. I want to be a part of a church who desires and strive for that as well. May we all press on to pure praise.