People want to worship God because it is convenient. But God is calling us to another place. A place of worshiping out of sacrifice because true worship is worship given out of sacrifice.
Habbakuk 3:17-19 "Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— 18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."
Before anything else, we are worshipers, before I am a preacher I am a worshiper. There is not going to be any preaching in heaven. There is not going to be any praying in Heaven. The only thing we will do in heaven is to behold God's glory and to worship Him.
And so one of the things that we must focus on is to be like Mary when we are in the presence of God, to worship without reservation. Sometimes true worship comes out of pain. The more you have gone through, the deeper your worship is. The more your pain, the greater your worship.
The Journey of salvation is one of following Jesus and hearing His voice. That that which breaks His heart, breaks our hearts, and that we carry His burdens. We go with Him wherever He wants us to go. We begin to live as strangers on earth because the things that other people are motivated and are driven by are not what drives or motivates us.
"These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being first fruits to God and to the Lamb." Revelation 14:4.
When you follow Jesus, you begin to understand His heart. You begin to know His ways, you begin to desire what He desires and all these things will be added to you. Unless we fix our eyes on Jesus, we will not be sustained. Because life is going to bring all kinds of obstacles, there are going to be challenges. There are going to be betrayals.
Not everybody who came to Jesus stayed with Jesus. Some crowds were following Him because they had seen the miracles. Some people were looking after Him like Judas because they knew they would get something.
But thank God there was also a Mary who did not care about anything around. She was extravagant on Jesus, she broke the perfume and worshiped.
Who shall we be? Will we be counted among those who just follow because we want to see miracles, because we want to see what we can get, or shall we be counted as one like Mary? Who says, Lord, I just want to worship you.
May we be seekers of the Kingdom, God's ways, and His true love.