I've heard Dennis Jernigan ask an audience, “What is worship?” And then he answered, “He is God and we are not.”
Worship is not a place. It’s not where we go. It isn’t a style. It doesn’t only take place if we sing pretty. It isn’t even music. It’s not about what we like or what we feel. Feelings can be a result from worship. Music is just a venue for worship. But true worship is all of me focused on all that He is. Worship is me submitting my everything and counting it loss for His sake (phil 3:7-8). Does worship make us feel good? Of course! That is a blessing back from the Lord. A problem in church today though, is focusing our energy so much on how it makes us feel, rather than honoring him with our worship through everything we do and everything we say and everything we sing (because yes, we do worship when we sing praises to Him). In other words, do we focus on how we are pleasing God or do we focus on how we are pleasing ourselves? “The worship style at that church just didn’t suit my needs.” MY needs? Is WORSHIP a style?! Where do we come up with those words?! Shouldn’t we be dedicating ourselves to the needs of others? Exactly what about worship makes us crave a certain style of music? It’s really quite comical if you think about it. Maybe it’s okay to like a certain kind of music over another, but let’s leave the word “worship” out of our opinions! Let us not worship a style of music, but rather the Creator of music itself!
Thanks for reading and thinking with me about something I think about quite regularly. I hope that my life is an honor to the One who made me. No matter where I am or what I am doing, I hope that His face is seen in mine. I hope that when I talk, teach, sing or write that people see less of me and more of Him. It’s not about me. It’s not about us… He is God and we are not.
“It’s all about You, Jesus
and all this is for You
For Your glory and Your Fame
It’s not about me
As if You should do things my way
You alone are God and I surrender
To Your ways”
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship(or reasonable service). Romans 12:1
