| This song began during one of my
morning prayer and exercise walks while living in SW London,
England. This song is the "call to worship"
the way I express it. I believe God wants us to come and
worship just the way we are, though when true worship
happens we don't stay the way we are. When we make that
choice, we experience the pleasure of worship: the treasure
of being with God
That's why our choice to worship is so important. If
we worship because we have to, where is the love? God
and us get no pleasure out of that kind of worship.
Many of us have experienced the pleasure of worship
done in love and it's a priceless treasure. That's the
background behind the words in the second section of
the song. One day the choice will be gone. Everyone
will be overpowered and fall to their knees and 'worship'
with their bodies, but not with their hearts of love.
The greatest treasure I am referring to is not heaven
in some theological or future sense (though I totally
believe in the reality of heaven!); instead, it's the
gift of knowing and loving God...choosing to worship
God out of love...and experiencing the pleasure of being
with God and being in His presence. Of course all those
things will be experienced in heaven, but the goal isn't
to get into heaven in that sense; the goal is to be
with God or to get heaven (the pleasure of worship)
into us.
The "new" words on the "You Shine"
recording ("Willingly we choose...") are actually
the original words that were edited out just before
the initial recording of the song in the spring of 98
in London. The words are a response to the greatest
command in scripture. "Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your mind and with all your strength" (Mark
12:30).
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