Worship is worth dying for....right?

The freedom to worship God is something that I as an American have, but unfortunately it's taken just about 22 years for me to appreciate it. I was homeschooled from 2nd - 12th grade and my mom used a christian based curriculum for most of our schoolwork. History being one of those subjects, I spent so much of my life learning about not only american and world history but the history of christianity as well. I have so much knowledge about how much persecution people went through to give me what I have today but have never really understood exactly how costly worship is.

Our teacher this week is Fernando Dantes. He said something today that almost brought me to tears. He told a story about how he went to the Colosseum in Italy and they had a worship time outside the stadium. It was during that time God spoke to him that he had that freedom to worship because people died in that very stadium. Fernando went on to say that there are times when we have the nerve to decide that we don't feel like worshiping because we are tired! Bleh!! He is so right!!! I can't even count how many times i've sat down during a worship service because I was tired or just did not feel like worshiping God. Yet had I been alive during a different era of history, I would have to fight possibly even to death for the very freedom that I'm choosing to reject! Ugh, how sick is that! Not only did people throughout history die for my freedom of worship, but God's only Son even died! By my decision to sit down during worship or even just decide I don't feel like worshiping is the greatest disrespect I can show to the all of those who gave up literally everything. Are we really that self-centered?

If I had been alive during a time when worshiping God was life threatening, would I still worship God? If someone came to me right now and put a gun to my head and told me if to stop worshiping God, would I stop? Is my love for God so shallow that I'm even asking these questions? Why do I worship God? Just because I can? Worship has to be more than something I just do without thinking about it. If it's something I do mindlessly, then it's not something worth dying for and all of those who died for this have died in vain. They knew God in a way that not even death could make them stop worshiping Him. That's true worship. I want that.

God I pray that the next time I don't "feel" like worshiping you that you will remind me of this revelation.