Before we announce that we are coming to worship, perhaps we should first ask ourselves, “What is worship?” By definition, worship is a mental or spiritual act, a sense of awe and reverence in the presence of the divine. It is NOT an experience we have in the presence of God, but the act of offering God our best when we are IN His presence.
If we were to look closely at the Greek word for worship, we would find the word proskuneo. It’s direct meaning is very clear as to what worship is…”throwing oneself on the ground to show respect and awe.” On Sunday morning, when you meet with the saints and, ‘come to worship’, does it include respect, reverence and awe? I’m afraid too often we cheapen our understanding of that simple word ‘awe’ and fail to realize it’s a descriptive term that tells us about our creator. Rather than holding that term solely for His description, we tell our friends that the movie we saw on Saturday night was ‘awesome’. How can I compare the Maker of Heaven and earth to a 90 minute, Hollywood production. Sing “Our God is an Awesome God” and find another description for that movie.
As you consider your personal worship time on Sunday morning or Sunday night…what is your mind thinking about? How have you prepared yourself for this time in the presence of God. I have heard many say that they ‘worship’ all the time. The idea has been adopted to say we should consider our whole lives a worship to God. Without a doubt, we need to humble ourselves every day and bow before Him with respect and awe. But we need to understand that worship is an intentional action. We must prepare ourselves for worship or we run the risk of just ‘going through the motions’. Are we to ALWAYS have Christ in our lives? Absolutely! Paul admonishes us to ‘pray without ceasing’ (I Thessalonians 5:17), but does that mean we are praying all the time? Of course there are times when we pray and times when our minds are not focused in prayer; but we must always have a prayerful heart. In the same way, as we live our life in reverence to God, we also work within this worldly realm. In the world, but not of the world. Our lives reflect submission to 24/7 though we may not be ‘bowing in worship’.
Let me encourage you to consider this idea of worship by pointing out FOUR basic tenants of our worship. Number One; worship is internal, it comes from the heart. Can I worship externally? Yes, but you cannot properly worship God externally without first worshiping Him internally. Number Two; worship is intentional. We can’t come to God and worship Him accidentally. Remember God’s warning in Matthew 15, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” What are you thinking about when you come to worship? Number Three; worship is vertical. Certainly, during our worship, we encourage the church family around us. But our giving of praise to God can not be mistaken as self-satisfying. “I Need Thee Every Hour” is a song that can only be sung to Him! Number Four; (as noted earlier) worship is momentary. Our lives are spent in momentary acts, and sense our worship is intentional, we must choose to spend time in worship.
Next time you ‘come to worship’, remember we are to worship in spirit and in truth. Come before Him and worship in reverence and in awe.