“Worship” is one of those words that the Church has given many different definitions to.
For many, it is the Christian word for music: “We really enjoyed the “worship” today!” It is a genre of music: “Learn how to play “worship” guitar!” It’s also used as a verb: “She can ‘worship’ better than anyone I know!”
Music is a powerful tool for worship, but it is not the definition! True Worship to God is to give our hearts fully to Him in any means necessary; not only singing the lyrics to a worship song. It is a sacrifice of our desires and our own will for God’s desires and God’s will. It is not about the music choices or how ‘hip’ or ‘relevant’ we are.
Our focus is only glorifying God by any way that we are able. Isaiah 29:13 states: ‘…These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.‘
Even as the Director of Worship Ministries, I struggle with this. The desire to do well in man’s eyes can sometimes supersede pursuing God. The question can no longer be, “How can we get more people to worship and enjoy our services?”
God has reminded me weekly that this is a people-pleasing mindset, which does not honour Him. The question should be, “How can we worship God whole-heartedly with all we have?” We give all of ourselves because that is the LEAST He deserves. If you’d like to discuss more on worship, just email me!