No doubt many of us have seen the “Where’s Wally” books. Double-page colour spreads where you try and spot a small character called Wally. Wally’s the one with distinctive red-and-white striped shirt, bobble hat, and glasses. Now the fun of the game is that you are presented with amusing scenes where there are vast numbers of other very similar characters that serve as distractions making it quite hard to actually notice where Wally is.
Today I want to think for a moment on the subject of worship. You will agree that worship has at its focus God: God the Father, God his Son, Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit. Very clearly we ourselves are not on that list, worship is not about us, it’s about Him, it’s about God. Ok, so far so good. But now let me suggest a problem in that Wally, that is you and me, has an utterly predictable tendency to show up on every page of worship as the focus or at least part of the focus of worship.
How is that then, surely worship can only be about God and directed entirely to God? Well not necessarily, think of our worship in prayer, how often do those centre around our needs and petitions for our concerns. Or again, think about our worship in song, how frequently do we discover that our thanksgivings are all to do with our blessings and with gratitude for our personal circumstances.
Test it out for yourselves if you don’t believe me, maybe you will catch yourself out in both praise and prayer focusing on yourself, your needs and your blessings. Perhaps we should begin praying that we won’t be a Wally (or a Wenda) in His worship.