Breakfast at Tiffany’s: What is worship?

One of the most important aspects of the Christian life is the worship of God. Worship is declaring the Lord Jesus Christ’s worth. It is not giving Him worth, but it is declaring the worth that He already has. He is worthy of all praise, worship and adoration.

Worship is not only something we do when we express worth to Him in church, but it goes much deeper than that. Worship, for the believer, takes on our whole personhood. It comes from the devoted life.

Worship comes from the spirit, soul, heart and mind. Worship truly is something you do all the time. Many people want to show God how much they love Him by how exuberant they are in a worship setting, but unless the life matches it, God is not honored. Let’s look at how God views worship when it doesn’t come from a heart for Him first:

I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Amos 5:21-24

God hates rituals of worship where we gather with others and sing songs with great feeling, while inwardly our hearts, our minds and our actions are far from God and His holiness. The worship that God accepts is from the person whose heart and life are devoted to Him in true love and thankfulness and makes every effort to live in a way that honors Him. It truly is the heart of worship.

Worship then, we see, goes much deeper. There really is only one measurement that God uses to see how much we love Him:

“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” John 14:21.

Obedience to Christ is the measure of our true devotion and worship of God. This is worship at its core. It not only has that deep devoted love for God, but it is expressed by our obedience. True love for God cannot be separated from obedience to Him. It is the only measure that Christ gives of our love for Him. If we are truly devoted to Christ, we will take action and live by what he says in His Word. Therefore, our worship will encompass everything we think, say and do.