…about worship

I woke up early this morning thinking about the word “worship.”  The word means to hold in reverence or high esteem.  The first usage of the word in the Bible is in Genesis 22:5 where Abraham was on his way to sacrifice Isaac.  He told the servants to wait while he and Isaac went to worship.  There is a lot to say about that passage in the Bible, but that wasn’t what I was thinking about.  When I tell God how wonderful and gracious and just (and every good word I can think of to describe Him) He is; focusing on the Almighty in adoration, praise and thanksgiving - that is worship and I am often brought to tears by His very presence!  Lately I have been experiencing that magnified as I worship corporately with the believers at the church I attend. (Let’s not get nit-picky! I know that we are the church but we are not always at the same place!)

Then I began thinking about the Epistles.  Have you ever noticed how they all say basically the same thing?  Each letter is written to different recipients and for different reasons.  Galatians was written to address the false teachers who claimed that you had to become a Jew first and then you could become a Christian.  The first letter from John was written to address the issue of gnosticism.  Peter was warning Christians around the world to not get lax in their faith.  Jude’s letter addressed how to “fight for the faith.”  The solution in all the Epistles is to know what you believe and live it fiercely.  The Jews worked diligently to follow the law and thereby be accepted by God.  We, who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, are already accepted (Ephesians 1:4-6).  Therefore we put aside striving and live by the same grace and faith by which we were saved.

The point of these ramblings is that God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - alone is worthy of all our worship and that worship is not a work or some forced duty.  Worship proceeds naturally from the heart full of thanksgiving for Who God is and what He has done!