Worship

"Worship is the hearts response to what God is doing, has done, and will do in our lives."

"Worship is what we value the most."

"Worship is what I was wired to do!"



I have been thinking recently about Worship and what it truly means. Thinking about music related to worship. I realized a couple of things, and I hope I can be clear on my findings.

I realized that we as humans try to put a face on God and who He is all of our lives. We try and figure out who He is and what He is about. We as humans need to touch, feel, experience, see, and so forth before we can put our trust in anything. So we try and put a face on a God who is faceless, matchless, and indescribable.

I had someone try to tell me this weekend that If I can take a Worship song and the attributes in the song and then sing it about a friend, lover, girlfriend or wife that it is no longer a worship song.

Take for example a few lines from a well known song.

You (Amber) are my strength when I am weak
You (Amber) are the treasure that I seek
You (Amber) are my all in all

Oh crud this song must not be a worship song anymore, because I can replace the word You with Amber (my wife). The truth is is that is bull crap. This dude was trying to limit what is worship and what can be worship. The truth is as the three quotes state above, it has nothing to do with words. The dude also went on to say that we try and put human attributes on God in these songs. The truth is however is that we as humans actually try and put Godly attributes on ourselves.

When I tell my wife how lovely and beautiful she is, and she tells me how great and awesome and hard working I am, these may be true to a certain extent, but truly all of these attributes belong to God alone. God is all of these attributes. I am not any of them. The truth is my wife is broken, I am bruised. We are not a perfect people. We are merely reflections of God and who He is in our lives.

My worship is that of a Creator, King, one who is before and after, who is Awesome, terrifying, amazing, worthy, great, beautiful, hot, hard working, and the list goes on. I worship not because of words or notes, I worship because my heart cannot contain the gratefulness that is within me and the appreciation for who and what God is in my life. I worship because everything in my being compels me to. And without worship I am nothing, for that is what I was created to do. I was not created to judge whether my worship is good enough, for whatever I bring will never be enough. I do have to guard myself against false and unholy worship as well. I could in a sense be worshiping and placing attributes on things and people that do not deserve them, I must realize that God is the only one who deserves praise and worship.

Are there some songs out there that are lacking in depth? Sure, but I am not the creator of that song I have no clue where the heart was in that moment. The truth is I think worship songs are a launching point for us to begin creating more worship and understanding it. I think our creations of a personal kind hit worship more than sing a long songs. But co-op worship is necessary as well. There is a place for both. But the next time you say this song just doesn't do it for me or that song wasn't written well, or whatever else you come up with, remember it was never meant for you, it isn't about how you feel about it or how you can manipulate it to be whatever you want, it was meant to bring the attention and honor back to the Creator of the World!!!