Is there such a thing as right and wrong worship? You may experience a variety of worship styles in your lifetime, but one video shows a service you never want to attend:Listen to the song lyrics in this humorous video produced by First Church Orlando, and you’ll understand what I mean. Obviously, that’s the wrong kind of worship. None of us would actually sing those songs. Or would we?
Think about what “worship” means to you–and what it means to God. Do you “surrender some” or “all”? Do our lives honor God or ourselves? We’re probably all guilty at times of “wrong worship.” But what is the right kind?
What Is Real Worship?
Obviously, wrong worship is worshiping anything or anyone but God. It glorifies self and right worship honors God. A study about worship in God’s Word will give us further guidelines as to what truly honors Him. I encourage you to make your own personal study. As I’ve studied and thought about it, here’s what real worship means to me:
Worship doesn’t begin with the first note of a song in church, but with the first breath of each day. Worship is the heart’s plea for God, the cry of a spirit parched from the desert’s heat. It may put a hallelujah on our lips with joyous jubilation. Or it may cause us to fall on our face with sincere consecration. Worship is believing God for who He is and trusting Him for what He will be. In essence, worship is a way of life.
Worship releases the spirit in bondage and frees the soul long in distress. Praise cries, “Abba,” unashamedly to the Father. It reaches out with open arms to embrace the God of Love. With the silence of a quiet heart, worship hushes in His holy presence, yet leaps to sing His name. Best Friend, Faithful One, Redeemer and Lord–worship cannot speak adequately of the attributes of God, for His goodness exceeds all our dreams, our hopes, our expectations.
Worship is blessing, believing, and declaring God’s faithfulness, mercy, and grace, regardless of where or who we are. It is loving the One who first loved us–and then offering that same love to others.1
“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness” (Psalm 29:2, NIV).
“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the spirit, and in truth” (John 4:24, NIV).
¹Adapted from At Home in My Heart, Preparing a Place for His Presence, by Rebecca Barlow Jordan, 2001.
What about you? What does real worship mean to you?
