by Jon Allison
People often think that worship is simply singing songs of praise. It is so much more than this! Praise comes from the mouth but worship comes from the heart. Singing can be used for worship but it is simply a means of worshipping God through praise. Today’s contemporary music is full of emotion that creates a feeling inside of us that moves us, but this is not necessarily worship. Worship is not a feeling. It’s an act. Emotion is not wrong but we can often be distracted by it.
There is such a huge divison in many churches dealing with music. The older people in the church enjoy singing hymns because it is the style of music that they have always sang. Hymns are very beautifully written that contain so much thought and doctrine. These are great to sing praises to God and worship Him. The content is very rich but the music it self is much slower then a chorus. The youth of today enjoy much faster, upbeat music such as chorus’. They feel that hymns are old and boring. This music contains much simplier doctrine yet there is a lot of emotion built into the music.
It doesn’t matter how we worship God because everyone worships in a different way. The important part is that we worship Him and worship Him with our very best. People worship God in different ways just as people gets excited for their favorite sports team in different ways. Some people go crazy and are very enthusiastic when their team scores a goal. Others simply smile and beam with joy but they keep their emotions inside. The same thig happens in worship. People who raise their hands before God should not feel uncomfortable doing so, but they should also not look to the next person and expect to do the same. In that same way those who don’t lift their hands should not feel obligated to, nor should they look down upon thos who do. Anyone who has time to judge the other in a time of worship is not worshipping God themselves. Worship is between ourself and God, no one else.
God being master over the universe, Creator of all and the giver of life ought to be worshiped every moment that we live. But how much time do we take daily to stop and reflect on God and worship Him? We need to spend time in worship of our God each day.
In order to worship God we need to understand both who He is and who we are. God is the creator of all things, He is omnipresent and omnipotent, the Alpha and Omega. He transcends both time and space, and He is a God who loves us! We are human, physical beings that have both a beginning and an end, sinful creatures that are destined to eternal death, helpless and lost, yet loved by God Almighty.
The reason we ought to worship God is not because He needs it or requires it and not because it makes us feel holy. Rather we worship God because it is our reaction as a creature before our creator, a son before a father and a prince before a king. We worship God because His greatness is so overwhelming we cannot look at His face. He is in absolute control of our lives and He guides us down the pathway life. We ought to fall facedown and worship Him. We need to surrender everything we have and everything we are to Him. To surrender your heart to someone mean that “if” they fail you wou will be broken and have nothing left.
When we seek God and begin to know and experience Him, we see how awesome He really is. Our reaction to this is worship. It’s a reaction to what He did for me in love to rescue us from a state of hopelessness and give me life. We must worship God because of who He is and what He has done.
“Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”
-Psalm 100
