Rethinking Religion: Rethinking the Worth of Worship. Person A never attends worship. He can’t see the point. Person B attends every week out of a slavish sense of obligation. Her mind wanders during the services, for she views the activities of worship merely as tasks for her to complete. Who is worse off? Rather than debating the point, let us just admit neither understand the true worth of worship. And that is exactly what Satan wants.
Many think worship is about what we do for God. It is the other way around. As we gather around Word and sacrament, the Spirit moves us to love and trust in God above all things. Moved by the cross of Christ, we bow down before our God. We commune with Him. And that’s exactly what God wants.

“If God loves us, why doesn’t He remove all the trials and tests and temptations that we face?” That question demonstrates the religious assumption that those things are bad. They aren’t. In the hands of a loving God, they are tools by which He refines our faith. He uses tests as a way to compel us to be less self-reliant, and instead trust in His strength. He uses trials to teach us that this broken world is not our true home. God even takes Satan’s temptations and uses them for our good.

Trials, tests, and temptations are not exceptions to God’s love. That’s a false assumption! These are examples of God’s love. Proof is that God allowed His beloved Son Jesus to face trials and temptations, so that He might be our perfect savior and substitute.