It's personal, it's not business

There's a phrase you've likely heard in movies or elsewhere: "It's business, it's not personal."

Even in worship, as worship teams and leaders, we can reduce everything to the 'business' of worship.

We rehearse, prepare our sets, review services, and focus on how well we execute our plans and schedule and handle all the administrative tasks involved in leading worship.

We concentrate on the musical aspects and the songs, making them sound cool and interesting.

These are all vital components—the business, the operations, the tactics. If we do this well, people will say we led worship successfully.

But was it personal?

I often wonder how different my worship sets or rehearsals would look if Jesus didn't exist.

Imagine worship in a world where Jesus didn't exist, but we believed and thought He did.

No encounter. No experience. Just academic and emotional agreement with an idea of a god.

Can you?

And don't think we as humans are not capable of such self-delusion.

Billions of people throughout history have worshiped false idols. Even in the days of King David, the people continually brought sacrifices to Mose's tabernacle even though there was nothing behind the curtain - no 'presence' in the Holy of Holies.

We have all done it. We 'did' the business, the habit, the ritual of worship - where it was extravagant but not personal.

Oh, it may have meant something to us personally, but it didn't rise to the level of a personal encounter—that face-to-face, heart-to-heart encounter with a Person.

But back to my point...

Something is fundamentally wrong if our worship wouldn't sound, feel, or look different without Him.

Think of cake mix—you buy a bag of powder at the grocery store with everything in it, but it needs a liquid (water, milk, or eggs) to become a fluffy cake.

Our work—scheduling, music preparation, and leading worship—is like that cake mix. The problem arises when we think the cake mix alone is enough.

No oil leads to dryness. Oil leads to sweet goodness!

You can have all the cake mix you want, but that doesn't mean you have a cake. To make it impactful, you need to add liquid—the oil of relationship.

This morning, my wife and I were "discussing" how much time I spend on work and the need to balance my attention to our relationship and other aspects of life, like health.

It's easy to focus on mechanics—the business—and lose sight of what truly matters.

It's so easy to be Martha and forget to be Mary.

In ministry and personal life, we often get caught up in the work but forget what Jesus says is most important: posturing ourselves at His feet, where it becomes personal.

So when we say it's business, not personal, let's reverse that: it's personal, not just business.

The personal part makes the business make sense.

It's about sitting at His feet while working on a song and meeting Him there—not just rehearsing to get the music right but seizing another opportunity for an encounter.

It's about seeking Him throughout the set list and stopping to gaze when we find Him.

On this Valentine's Day, I pray that you choose personal over business in every area of your life—in your work, relationships, health, time, and communities—so that when all is said and done, love and relationships remain. We want Him to say He knew us.

Consider Jesus' words when people claim they preached in His name and performed miracles, but He responds, "I never knew you."

They did the business but didn't make it personal.

Let us challenge ourselves today to make it personal—to get good at encountering Him intentionally.

Recognize that something is wrong if He isn't encountered during our activities.

Make everything personal because, in the end, it's the only thing that truly matters.

When all is said and done.

Did you know Me?

Did you learn to love? (Me, and those I put in your life)

Happy Valentine's Day. ❤️