Worship versus Going through the Motions

Going to church regularly is a start.

Having a daily "prayer rule" is a start.

Reading spiritual books and watching spiritual videos is a start.

It is not enough.

To follow Jesus is not merely to learn about Him, to mingle with others who know about Him, and to call it a day.  To follow Jesus means to allow Him to change us.  And for that to happen, we must spend 1:1 time with Him.  

To start, during our prayer time, we must allow time to listen in silence, not merely to recite prayers, both scripted and from the heart.  We must listen for that still, small voice as well.

When going to church, choice of church does matter.  Will we be able to pray while there?  Or are we just going to learn about Jesus and mingle with others who know Him?  If we can use this opportunity to again listen to God speaking to our hearts, then the church is a help on our journey.

We should read and watch spiritual content, but we shouldn't become addicted to media consumption.  We must pause and ask ourselves, how can this apply to my life?  What is the Lord telling me through this message?  

Everything we do in the spiritual life must return us again and again to a humble place of listening for the voice of God.  

Fasting done for its own sake is not a spiritual practice.  But if we can use our hunger cues to turn our thoughts to God and our needy neighbor, then it is.

Charitable giving for its own sake is not a spiritual practice.  But discerning where to give and how much, and doing so generously and even sacrificially, and then coupling it with prayer is.

If we are to imitate Christ, we must continually learn about Him, yes.  And to do so, we must put ourselves in the vicinity of those who know more about Him than we do.  Hence, church.  Hence, spiritual content. But then we must balance that out with a time of reflection, of allowing what we've learned to get processed so that in the final stage, we can apply it to our daily life.  Only then do all the preceding stages count as worship of God, for we were preparing all along to do God's will.