By Pastor Royston
“His perfect holiness, by definition, assures us that our words can’t contain Him. Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?”—Francis Chan, Pastor, Author & Teacher
Worship is not a prescription it is a description. It has more to do with who we know than what we know. It has less to do with knowledge and more to do with relationship. Worship has more to do with what we bring to the sanctuary that what is brought by others.
Our flawed and damaged character must experience a spiritual transformation. We sometimes mistake the enjoyment and excitement of a worship service for a spiritual connection and so neglect building a relationship with God. It is a part of the journey but is not the destination. Worship is placing your life before God, connecting with the heart, and expressing with your whole body, mind, and spirit. At the end of each worship session our vision of God, self and others must be different.
A worship session is an event, worship is a lifestyle.
In Exodus 3: 5-6 Moses said, “And he said, draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.”
When we come to worship, we should see ourselves as unworthy yet privileged to unite in praise to a worthy and holy God. In the parable found in Luke chapter 18: 10-14, the publican recognised his unworthiness and would not even lift so much as an eyelid to heaven, but pounded his chest, in bitter anguish and self-disgust of his sinful self. He felt unclean and messy. He never sought pity from his fellow worshippers, for he knew what they thought and said about him. His mere presence in the temple brought stains and scorn the place. Besides, he knew his lifestyle sullied his relationship with God so in utter self-despair he cried, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”
True worship, begins when we develop a right understanding of who God really is.
As we come to Him daily, we present and consecrate ourselves before God. We release our guilt in His presence, recognizing our debt has been paid. We draw near to Him because of the assurance given in James 4: 8. Then, we can embrace God’s great mercy and unfailing love. We can talk of the faithfulness of our loving Father who accepts our worship offering despite our imperfections. Praise, like clear- flowing streams, will come from being in God’s presence and experiencing his transforming grace.
The Message Bible adds, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2.
Worship is not something we do; it’s a lifestyle. When our hearts are intimately connected with God’s, we experience authentic worship. Over time our values and priorities change, we’ll become contented and satisfied being in God’s presence and treasure this more than all earthly things. Remain in His presence, develop a lifestyle of worship.