The Worship Corner - What is Worship Anyway?
As we begin to look at the topic of worship, a good place to start would be to answer the question, "What exactly is worship?" The American Heritage Dictionary definition of worship is as follows: N a) The reverent love and allegiance accorded a deity, idol, or sacred object. b) A set of ceremonies, prayers, or other religious forms by which this love is expressed. V a) To honor and love as a deity; venerate. B) To love or pursue devotedly. Here's another definition: to ascribe, assign, attribute, declare worth.
Buddy Owens wrote an awesome little book about worship called "The Way of a Worshipper". I will be quoting this book occasionally through the course of these blogs. Buddy calls authentic worship, "a response to an authentic encounter with the living God...When we worship God, we declare His worth." Essentially, when we worship God, we are exclaiming to Him how much we value Him. Understand that worship is not just music, or prayer, or reading scripture, or listening to a good sermon, though it involves all of those elements. Most importantly, worship is not what we do only on Sundays in church!
Worship is a way of life! Romans 12:1 says this; "Therefor, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship." Our worship begins as our response to God's mercy. Everything we are, everything we have, every breath we take comes from God. Don't forget, God created Adam out of a pile of dust, so if not for God, that's what we'd be; dust! Simply put, worship is living every moment of our lives with the sole purpose of pleasing God. Worship is our acknowledgement that everything we have, everything we are, comes from God, and our response to God's unconditional love for us. Does your life, everything you say and do, reflect that you believe in and revere God? If so, then you are a true worshiper!
Be blessed,
Pastor Dennis