Let Us Adore Him
So we get to the chorus of this great old carol, and I'm sure it's familiar to you:
O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!
"Adore" is the key word today. Listen to what the great AW Tozer says about this word:
"We need to refine our definitions. Such words as honour, love and adore don't mean what they are supposed to mean. We use divine language in such a common way that when we try to rise to the exalted and divine level we find ourselves using words that do not express anything. If I had the power, I would pass a law permitting the use of such words as love, honour and adore only in prayer, Bible teaching, preaching and song. We have spoilt them and made them common, yet they belong to God."
Maybe he's right! Maybe when we sing this old carol we hardly adore Him, but we just sing it mindlessly, because it's so familiar it's become spoilt.
Moving Beyond Explanation to Adoration
Tozer also wrote this: "Our thought habits are those of the scientist, not those of the worshipper. We are more likely to explain than to adore." Maybe he's right again! Maybe we are looking for explanations and theories when we should instead be singing in adoration and praise of what we see.
Do you adore Christ the Lord? Does He mean more to you than anything? Do you cherish Him more deeply than you cherish anything else?
A famous prayer pattern that many people have found helpful is the word ACTS - which stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. It's a great way to pray, truly - it keeps you focused on what matters in your prayer time. And the fact that it starts with adoration is, I think, important. As RC Sproul wrote, "to omit adoration is to cut out the heart of prayer... The prayers of the great saints, the prayer warriors of church history, are marked by their fervent adoration of God."
Adoring God From the Heart
Are our prayers also marked by our fervent adoration of God? Now, some of you might be thinking that you don't have the words to adequately express your adoration for God. You're right. None of us do! Charles Wesley wrote a hymn in which he wished for a thousand tongues so that he could sing praise! Our tongues and our minds often can't come up with words of adoration. But that's OK, it's not about fancy wording. It's about appreciating God from the heart! Think of it - we can sing "O come let us adore Him" with a heart far from God, and it means nothing. Or we can sing nothing but be inwardly amazed and in awe of God. That's worship.
I encourage you to adore Him! To spend your life in pursuit of a greater adoration of this Jesus. He is so good, so faithful, so kind, so merciful, so patient, so loving, so powerful, so wonderful. How can you not adore Him, when you begin to get to know Him?
This Christmas, let Jesus be the object of your adoration. In the end, that's what Christmas is all about.
True adoration of Christ comes from the heart, not from fancy words or mindless repetition. This Christmas, make Jesus the object of your fervent adoration and spend your life pursuing a greater appreciation of Him.