This
concept of personal experience even applied to Jesus: the bible says…
seeing
the people, He felt compassion
for them – Matthew 9:36;
When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them – Matthew
14:14.
Certainly
Jesus knew about the people, but the bible says that when he saw
the people, he had compassion for them.
If
you are able to see people who do things different from you, eat food you’re
not used to, speak a language different than yours, in a different part of the
world, giving praise to God the same way you do, it will change the way you understand God. You will see Him as bigger than you could otherwise know.
You will see Him as caring for
people you never even dreamed about. You will see how small you are. You will see how blessed you are that you can be part of such a large family. And if
you are a servant of His, you will know how privileged you are to be chosen to serve.
I
have been fortunate enough to see people praise God in six different languages.
I have seen preachers fervently preach and teach about God in six languages. I
have an appreciation for how vast God is because of these experiences, yet
still, with each worship service in another culture, I am amazed at the great
size of our God and the impact He is having, at least in the parts of the world
I have been able to visit.
My plea to you
is simply this:
visit another country where the language and culture is different from yours,
and attend a worship service. If you do not know the language, by all means go
with someone that can translate for you. See the passion of the people as they
sing the words that you may not understand, see the enthusiasm of the preacher as he proclaims God’s
message and know he is teaching about the same God and the same bible you know, be changed for the better! You
will not regret it!