What Is Worship?
I know, I know. You know what worship is. You go to church every week. You only listen to christian music. You only watch christian television. You only read christian books. You only wear christian t-shirts and you only eat at Chick-fil-a. You know all the latest worship songs. All the newest trends in the christian music scene. You even know what a v-neck is. Or, you don’t know any new worship songs because you believe that the old stuff is better. Who ever said we were supposed to sing a new song anyway!? Oh, God did. No matter where you are in your christian walk, no matter what your experience with God, no matter what you were brought up in, we would all agree that worship is important. But we all approach worship differently. It’s actually a really big deal. Whole movements and denominations have been started because people approach worship differently. Churches have been built, and split, because of our different views of worship.
What’s your view of worship?
Soft piano or acoustic guitar accompanied by soft vocals?
Organs and hymns?
Celtic guitar and singers with accents?
Southern gospel?
Hillsong?
Loud electric guitars and live drums?
Early 90’s christian music with electric drums?
A cappella?
Jewish flavored music because that’s what Jesus listened to?
24/7 worship?
Slow music?
Fast music?
No music?
Please forgive the sarcasm, I’m only trying to bring to light the different ways we worship. All these different approaches and styles of worship are good. Usually, we tend to gravitate towards that style that we’re most comfortable with. If you were raised with the hymns, it’s hard to break away. If your early worship experiences were southern gospel, it’s difficult to embrace a worship style like Hillsong, and vice versa. We all see worship differently, but God doesn’t….
God sees worship the same. We approach and celebrate Him differently, but the end result is the same – He is glorified. If He’s not, then it’s not worship. Simple.
Now for the point…. God is bigger than music. God is bigger than style. God is just bigger. And worship is bigger than music as well. We all say that we know this, but do we practice it? I want to challenge you today to worship. Not sing a song, but worship. You don’t even have to lift your hands all day while trying to type at work. Just worship. Let’s look at a few examples of worship.
When we forgive your neighbor who has sinned against you, that’s worship.
When we repent quickly and completely, that’s worship.
When we are genuinely thankful to God for something, that’s worship.
When we put obedience above sacrifice, that’s worship.
When we love our spouse the way God intended, that’s worship.
When we offer the Gospel to a broken world, that’s worship.
When we sing off key, but it’s from our heart, that’s worship.
When we believe God even though our world is crumbling, that’s worship.
When we speak about what God’s done in our lives, that’s worship.
When we love and build the church because that’s what Jesus is doing, that’s worship.
When we decrease so Jesus can increase in our lives, that’s worship.
When we make time for our family, that’s worship.
When we come before God honestly, with no religious pretense, that’s worship.
When we think about His word, that’s worship.
When we are saved by God’s grace, that’s worship.
When we grow in the things of God, that’s worship.
When we die with the hope of heaven in our heart, that’s worship.
When we do anything that puts God above us, it’s worship.
My challenge to you today: worship.
“Maybe Later” How many times have we thought those words? Or even said those words? Funny how life seems to just take over and slap us in the face! We get so consumed with everyday tasks – the kids, dinner, work, ect….and we really mean well. I know that because I am the number one person guilty of “Maybe Later.” I feel like I wake up everyday ready to talk to God. Most days I start off my day with a quick conversation with him before I even get out of bed. However, I then plan to make quality time alone with Him and somehow have the hardest time making that happen. Let’s face it good intentions just aren’t enough. God wants us to put Him first, not “Maybe Later.” If you’re like me, you want to give Him the time He deserves, but other things creep up along the way and jump in front of all those good intentions. This is seriously the simplest of lessons to learn, yet seems to be the hardest to overcome. When Matthew 6:33 says “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”, clearly we see we are to seek Him first! It doesn’t get any plainer than that. When I was a teenager and my mom would ask me to do something for her and I would say, “Ok I’ll do it later” that was her biggest pet peeve. How much more do you think it feels to our God and Creator when we keep putting Him on the back burner. All the good intentions in the world don’t mean anything compared to 20 min in prayer or reading His Word. He simply wants us to show Him that we care enough to put him before anything else. Thomas Jefferson has a famous quote that everyone knows – “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” I think that he had a full understanding of how dangerous “Maybe Later” can be. Again, I am preaching to myself here, but I think that we all need to be encouraged and reminded that He should be first.
