Who is a true worshipper of God, and how important is it to worship God?
Worship must be viewed from two main angles: adoration and service. Worship speaks of the worthiness of a being to receive special honour. On one hand, worship is pure adoration and reverence, where the redeemed person contemplates and praises God in His holy perfection. On the other hand, worship can be likened to service. In the Bible, worshippers are described as servants, and in the New Testament the Greek word latreuo is translated both as “to serve” (Matthew 4:10) and as “to worship” (Acts 24:14, 2 Timothy 1:3, Revelation 22:3). So a true worshipper of God must not only adore and revere God, but also show a willingness and desire to serve Him. Our lives must be lived in honour of God.
In general church life, when we speak of worship we usually mean lifting our songs, voices and instruments to God in adoration. This is a wonderful and exhilarating way to show our love and appreciation to God for who He is and all He has done.
Worship in this form can be corporate or individual. Either way, it is an open door to a very intimate and life-changing experience with God. All manner of miracles have been known to happen during worship. People have experienced God’s loving touch and received Christ during praise and worship. The two things God requires from us are our worship and our obedience.
Yet how often I have stopped to look at myself and others, only to find that our worship was false or adulterated. The Bible says we should offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God, which is our reasonable service, or could we say, our worship (Romans 12:1). It also says we should walk in the Spirit so as not to fulfil the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). If we continue to live in sin, we cannot claim to offer God true worship, because we have allowed sin to become a god in our lives, whether physical sins such as fornication and adultery, or hidden sins such as envy and evil imaginations. God says we must worship Him alone (Matthew 4:10). We serve a merciful God who forgives us when we repent (1 John 1:9), but our repentance must be true, and we must take real steps to leave our sinful ways behind.
We have become so well versed in our praise and worship songs that we can sing them automatically while our thoughts are on anything but God.
During corporate or private worship, we raise songs and words of praise, but our minds are elsewhere: on the new tie or shoes the music director is wearing, on the new hairstyle a sister wore that you want on your next visit to the hairdresser, or on Mr Big Bucks, to whom you want to send a note asking to see him after the service. It may sound funny, but these observations will hit home with many of us. We have become so well versed in our praise and worship songs that we can sing them automatically while our thoughts are on anything but God. The sad thing is that we go away feeling justified, because we spent an hour singing as if to “fulfil all righteousness”, yet in God’s eyes we have offered nothing. Our worship has often become a jamboree of excitement, dancing, clapping and waving of hands. That in itself is not bad, but God was left out.
True worship brings godly change. It brings the manifest presence of God. At the dedication of Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 8:11), the worship was so sincere that it brought down a cloud of glory, and the priests themselves could not stand to minister, let alone the congregation. We quote the Bible and say Jesus inhabits the praises of His people, yet I ask you to search your heart. How often do we truly worship God?
The next time you praise and worship your Maker, watch yourself. If your thoughts wander, check yourself and refocus on the One who deserves all our praise: the Almighty God.