Posture

If I had to guess, I would say my posture probably isn't the best. I have a tendency to be sway-backed, stress out my neck and shoulders, and most likely slouch a bit. (And by "a bit", I mean "a LOT") And of course I love sitting in my recliner, where slouching is the whole purpose. But with a herniated disc in my lower back and a bulging disc in my upper back (neck), the reality for me is that posture is an enormously important thing. Yet, most of the time, I don't care. It's not like I don't CARE, but the fact that I do nothing about it and keep on slouching and stressing reveals that I really don't care. At least enough to do anything about it. It would do me a world of good to start paying closer attention to my posture. What about you?

How about in your worship? Does our "posture" matter?

Psalm 95:6 says, "Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for He is God. We are the people He watches over, the sheep under His care." Paul tells us in Philippians 2 that one day "every knee will bow" before Jesus Christ, giving Him the praise and glory and honor that only He deserves. Throughout scripture, there's evidence that our physical posture - the way we physically come into the presence of God to praise, celebrate, revere and adore Him - has significance in our worship. When David's son was ill (due to David's own sin) he "went without food and lay all night on the bare ground." David is found leading the nation to "fall down with their faces to the ground" and another time, in celebration of the victory the Lord had given the nation, dancing through the streets. (A bit naked, from what I understand.) Our physical posture says something. What it reveals is the posture of our heart.

On any given Sunday in any worship service at any church gathering, you're likely to find all sorts of postures. I often have opportunity to observe this from 2 different perspectives: sitting behind everyone in our worship center, seeing the posture of their bodies, and from the platform, with the expressions on their faces in full view. I am almost always moved by seeing a woman, standing to her feet, arms stretched to heaven, as if to say, "Lord, all I have is yours! All I am is yours! Take it all Lord!" I'm equally stirred by seeing a man, on his knees at the altar or the foot of the cross, knowing that he's pleading to the Lord on behalf of his wife, children, and family. Posture matters. Posture says something.

It also says something when you see the individual - in the midst of a mass of worshipers, pouring out their hearts and lifting their voices singing, "Your love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me!" - slouched down in their chair, arms folded, eyes rolled back in their head like mine were in College Algebra class. What their posture says is something to the effect of, "I think I'm in hell, I'll never cheer up, you ought to give up on me." That posture says, "I don't care. I have no idea why I'm here. Please put me out of my misery."

What does your posture say?

Please hear me: If someone doesn't know the Lord and they've come to check things out - skeptical - observing - guarded - and we expect anything different from them, we're kidding ourselves. If their heart hasn't yielded to the Lord, then why on earth would their face or their actions? This is about us. Those of us who claim the name and the shed blood of Jesus Christ over our lives! Those of us that have been eternally, radically, forever transformed by the life-changing news of the Gospel! What does our posture say?

Before you gather for corporate worship this weekend - as you hopefully withdraw for private, intimate communion with the Lord - ask the Holy Spirit to prepare your heart, and as a result, to take control of your posture. 

May our body language say, "Bless the Lord, oh my soul. And all that is within me bless His holy name!"