Thinking about the Olympics and Preparation

I have really enjoyed watching the Olympics these past few days. Especially the Half Pipe. I am amazed at how these athletes push themselves for an opportunity to win the gold medal. Standing on the platform as your national anthem is played must be one of the greatest experiences of all time for these athletes. While watching the games has been great, there has been another part of the Olympics that has really peaked my interest; the "back stories" on how the athletes got to this point in their life. In almost every athlete's story there are two aspects to their life; the dedication of the people in their lives i.e. parents, spouses, coaches etc. and the amount of preparation it takes to be the best in the world. I could not help but think how much time do we take to prepare to meet our King each Sunday.

Our worship team meets on Saturday mornings, I have mentioned on another post my sermon preparation for Sundays and I know our Sunday School teachers and leaders prepare for Sunday. But how do we personally prepare for worship each Sunday? Let me suggest it begins before Sunday morning. Let me suggest a few ways we can prepare to meet our King in worship...

1. Come Rested - many times nothing much happens on Sunday morning worship, because too much happened on on Saturday evening. It is important to come to worship rested so we can receive the most out of our worship time. I personally don't like to be out too late on Saturday evenings, our family tries to be home by 9:00 p.m. so we can be ready for Sunday.
2. Come Ready - If you do not expect to much to happen in worship chances are nothing will. However When we come to worship with an expectation, often times we leave with a sense of awe because we have encountered the living God.
3. Come Remembering - remember worship is not for you, but worship is for God. Remember why we gather to worship 1 Chronicles 16:29 reminds us, Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name...worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.

While it is exciting to watch the athletes compete in the Olympics, our thrill should come from the thought that every Sunday we have an opportunity to worship the Living God, may we prepare even more diligently than the athletes of the Olympics!