I want to discuss what I believe to the most important and freeing concept for Christians to understand.  I call it the Theology of Adoration.  It is a theology rooted in too many Scriptures to point to just one--meaning once you understand it, Scripture will bear it out over and over again--but it can be summed up most simply in this way:

  Soren Kierkegaard wrote, "Purity of heart is to will one thing."  

  If we are only allowed one expression of our lives, it must be the adoration of God.  To see God in His fullest glory would leave us in paralyzed awe!  We would helpless to do anything else.  The truth of this statement is so eternal that Jesus said, (paraphrasing) "If they don’t praise me, the force of the necessary response to such glory as mine would cause rocks to realign their atoms to cry out praises, just to fill the void of praise!"

  There it is.  That is purity.  That is singularity of heart and intent.  Any other focus of our lives or anything else added to that is idolatry.  Now, here is the scary ramification of that statement: any form of work or obedience is included in that grouping of idolatry, right along side of the idolatries of sin and disinterest in God.  

  Uh oh!  You can’t mean that!!!  

  I absolutely do!  However, in NO way do I advocate sinning.  I know at this point it would be possible to do "bowling theology" and twist what I said thus far into tossing two gutter balls:  

  Left Gutter: We can just do whatever we like and Jesus will get us to heaven no matter what.  So let’s go par-tuh-hay!  That is a gutter ball that this Theology of Adoration won’t accept.

  Right Gutter: We can’t sin freely and get in to heaven, so therefore this theology is bogus.  We show God our love for Him through obedience.

  Both gutter balls are understandable to throw at this point.  But instead, let’s continue...

  In Genesis chapter 1 we have a picture of how God takes a life that has spun out of control and is surrounded by darkness and transforms it into a creation that is exploding with life, surrounded by light everywhere.  How does He do it?  Two ways.  First, He speaks His will into our lives.  So we must be listening for His voice!  But second, it says He reaches down and forms it Himself.  Note that: creation is unable to form itself, even as it listens for the voice of God.  

  There is a statement that I believe calms and humbles the idol of the boldness of wanting to be obedient as a sign of our love for God and our ability to prove our worth and our sonship before Him.  It is simply, "The will is free, but not able."

  Yes, we want to be good and obey God.  Any child wants to show his or her love to their parents in that way.  But it is not possible for fallen creatures to be obedient in a way that is acceptable before God.  Allow me to explain:

  In the beginning, God gave Adam and Eve two commands, 1) Don’t eat the forbidden fruit, 2) have children.

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