What is Worship, Really?
Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED substack article, the only substack newsletter that may not agree with your opinion, but it will defend to the death your right to remain silent.
Update: If you're the type of person who has a funny bone (or at least some comedic cartilage), I've got news that might not totally change your life but could make your day slightly less boring. Episode #224 of the Christ is All podcast recently dropped, featuring my interview with Pastor Biff Wellington. Take it or leave it - but if you're into spirituality with a side of humor, it might be your jam. Be sure to listen to the very end.
Now for today's feature.
Worship -- we toss the word around casually, but do we understand its weight?
Worship is NOT a 20-minute slot on Sunday morning.
It's NOT just singing with eyes closed and hands raised.
Neither is it simply uttering or reciting prayers.
Worship is adoration taken to the extreme. It's falling head over heels with your mind and heart fixated on the object of your devotion.
It's the willingness to do anything and give up everything for the object of your worship.
Consider people who are so devoted to the object of their love that they’ll sacrifice everything for them.
Real worship changes you. It rearranges your priorities and reshapes your worldview.
Abraham understood this when he was willing to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. That's the level of commitment we're talking about.
Worship demands everything.
But it’s never forced.
Remember falling in love with someone? You couldn’t stop thinking about them even if you tried.
No one put a gun to your head and told you to adore that special human.
Your heart was caught by their beauty, and it wrecked you.
When a man “adores” or “idolizes” a woman, we say “he worships the ground she walks on.”
That’s what it means to worship the Lord.
Worship is idolatry when given to anything or anyone other than the one true and living God.
Romans 12:1 sums it up nicely:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to OFFER your bodies as a living SACRIFICE, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper WORSHIP. (NIV)
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living SACRIFICE, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual WORSHIP. (ESV)
Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an OFFERING. (The Message)
Worship doesn’t lead us to Christ.
Hearing Christ unveiled to the heart with power and glory is what leads us to worship.
For examples of what I mean, check out the Conference Messages page which is regularly updated.
You’ll find many spoken messages on the page that are designed to lead us to worship and awe in the presence of the supreme and stunning glories of Christ.
The next time you use the word “worship,” I hope you’ll infuse it with this meaning.
Until next Thursday,
fv