Lent Day 35: We Are an Offering (II)

Yesterday, I began trudging up the 7-day stretch leading to Holy Week -- my favorite week in the liturgical calendar. Guiding my feet to the altar, the Lord has brought a song for my heart to ponder. It is We Are an Offering, written in 1984 by Dwight Liles.

The text for this beloved Lenten chorus goes as follows:

"We lift our voices, we lift our hands,

We lift our lives up to You;

We are an offering.

Lord, use our voices; Lord, use our hands;

Lord, use our lives, they are Yours;

We are an offering.

All that we have, all that we are, all that we hope to be,

We give to You."

On this thirty-fifth lenten morning, we focus on lifting our voices up to God. One way to do that is to remember that our voices were given to us by the Creator for a specific purpose—to glorify His name. 

"I will praise You, O Lord my God,

with all my heart;

I will glorify Your name forever."

Psalm 86:12, NIV

Lest I believe that glorifying God is an activity that I can only do on my own and only in the privacy of my prayer closet, King David penned the following words that encourage me to embrace community:

"Glorify the Lord with me;

let us exalt His name together."

Psalm 34:3, NIV

In other words, praising God is a communal endeavor.
Glorifying the name of the Lord is to be the heartbeat of fellowship.

"Sing to the Lord, you saints of His;

praise His holy name."

Psalm 30:4, NIV

Is that the case in our communication?
Are there bitter roots springing up in our vocal gardens? 
Can our voices be described as melodious and God-ward in daily conversations?  

All too often, far from employing our voices or words to glorify the Lord together, our daily interaction with one another reveals how easy it is to use, overuse, and abuse them mindlessly.

A woman is using her voice mindlessly when her communication fails to convey that she loves God with all her mind. A father is overusing his voice when his angry, condemning, and uncaring tone portrays to his children a lamentable absence of heartfelt love for the God he professes to worship. A young man is abusing his voice when his utmost strength is spent on concocting syrupy lies and enticing words with the intent of catching unsuspecting prey into his web of deceit—a strength that was intended for him to show his total love for the Father of glory.

Lenten thought beckons us to rend vocal misuse.

It teaches us that:

     -  Humility disarms arrogance.
     -  Positivity conquers pickiness.
     -  Gratitude overcomes grumbling.
     -  Gentleness repels contentiousness.
     -  Patience decapitates hardheartedness.

Indeed, fellow sojourner, unless the ordinary sighs, grunts, cries, words, and songs of our lives are lovingly and mindfully presented to the audience of One, our extraordinary feats supposedly done in His name matter very little to the Father. Unless our everyday conversations are filled with grace and seasoned with salt, our offerings have no business being placed on God's altar.

Perhaps, the human mouth is like the empty tomb—no voice or sound can be seen therein. Yet, it is quite a fitting piece of evidence stating that the human voice (coming from within the human body through the mouth) is a most fragrant offering (like the body of Christ), pleasing and acceptable to the Father. As we pray, let us ask that the words of our mouths might be so pleasing to the Redeemer that we will leave empty the tombs of earth's entanglements in our vocal usage—blessing instead of cursing others; honoring instead of reviling Christ!

Lord Jesus, 

teach us what it means 

to lovingly offer our voices to You 

in true and proper worship. 

In our greetings, responses, and explanations, 

may we surrender first and foremost to Your holy will. 

May Your reins direct us to Your heavenly course! 

Amen.