Worship

Worship is the act of ascribing worth to God.

Why is this important, well how often have you heard or been told that everything we do is an act of worship? I believe obedience is of paramount importance but the acts themselves are not worship. I concede that acts done out of the love we have for God, those can be called worshipful but they are not the highest expression of vertical adoration we are called to have, which is worship.

This is not a new idea; frankly I don’t think there are many original ideas left. C. S. Lewis one of my favorite authors spoke about Chronological snobbery, the thought that our ideas are better than the ideas of the past because they are newer. I am not a Simpson’s fan but I feel a smattering of Homer coming on “Duh” the truth is the same now as it was 2 or 3 thousand years ago. I just wish our government and our society would understand this as well as our founding fathers did but that is a blog for another time.

Worship can have different forms but it does need to be intentional and direct and it must ascribe worth to God. But please don’t take my word for it let’s look at scripture. Psalm 29, Psalm 96 and 1 Chronicles 16 speak to these non-original ideas the best.

Psalm 29:2 “Ascribe to the Lord Glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name”

To me these Scriptures are telling us that worship is all our emotion and thoughts focused on the ascription of worth.

I am going to pick on the church for a moment. How often have you heard; “The worship team is going to play a song for us to prepare us for the teaching.” or at least something along those lines. Worship should elevate God by ascribing worth to Him and I believe it helps lower us to our place. I don’t believe we worship in order to be more receptive to preaching, the preaching should make the worship more impactful for God. This is not to say that I believe we can add to God, because we can’t but it does mean that we can bless God with our worship and knowing that we can bless Him should really get our motors running.

Psalm 103:1-2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits

For me a part of having an intimate relationship with God involves me learning who God is and who God says I am. And my gratitude for who He is and what He has done for me and for what He continues to do in me. These are important and extremely precious to me but I can’t focus on what, because worship is not about what I have received but the ascription of worth to God. Giving Him all the glory! So when it comes to worship in your church if it is done with the right priorities when the world visits they will be impacted. That is why church shouldn’t be a compromise; church should be a place where you get to see God move, worship that ascribes worth to God starts with adoration.

Adoration of God first and not the things of the world.