could i sing of your love forever?

John Piper once stated that the Bible is the word of GOD ALMIGHTY himself, it can't be boring; we are the problem. I think the same applies to worship music. It can't be boring. We are the problem.

All too often I hear Christians moan, "Ugh.. I can't believe we're playing this song again." Even worship leaders condescend to say, "I don't like to play that song because it's already so overplayed." But I think this reflects a very unfortunate understanding of worship. It leads me to wonder whether or not most Christians truly long for heaven. Revelation 7:9-10 paints such a marvelous, yet small part of what paradise will be like:

"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
'Salvation belongs to our God,who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'"

Does the thought of that excite you? Do you yearn for the day when John's magnificent vision becomes a reality? To be a part of that? Or does the thought of joining in the angelic chorus of "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty" bore us? If our chief desire as we enter worship is not to please God, to magnify Him, then why do we want to go to heaven?

The other week I got into a conversation with another student about religion. There was a lot of circular argument, with his central point being that because God is such a good and loving God, he will let everyone into heaven. But I think this claim stems from an incomplete idea of heaven. Yes, it is a place without pain and suffering. It is the place where we will know true joy and complete satisfaction. But, this is only true because heaven is where we will finally worship God in spirit and in truth. Worship of God results in the purest, highest enjoyment the human heart can ever experience. But our fleshly nature is so debased that most of us don't recognize this. Instead of being lovers of God, we are lovers of self. We have traded the glory of the incorruptible God for mere shadow images of His creation. The beauty of the heavens no longer captures our breath. The warm canvas of a sunrise no longer draws forth words of praise from our lips. For anyone in this state, heaven would be hell. Perfect, everlasting fellowship with God is the ultimate joy. But to a person wholly consumed with love of self, or love of anything less than God, this would seem to be as hell.

Songs with a Christian message can get old. But songs to the praise and glory of the Lord our God cannot get old. We will not be bored in heaven, even if all we do (which we probably won't) is join in the angelic chorus of "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty." It is not about us.