The meaning of worship has been devalued in today’s society. It can be defined in many different terms, but in church culture today, worship is most often defined as music. I believe we have lost the true definition of worship, and as a result, we have lost the true practice of worship. The cheapening of worship can be attributed to consumerism that is largely influencing the Christian music industry today. The Christian music industry has even created a category for music, called worship. We see more and more Christian artists selling out huge venues with ticket prices over $30 a person. But more importantly, it can be attributed to our human tendency to make things that are beyond our comprehension simpler, and easier to process. Because it is easier for us to think of worship as only music, and because the word worship has taken the place of the word music in the church, we begin to believe and practice this untruth.
Before I continue any further I would like add a disclaimer. This blog post may seem as if I am against the usage of the word worship, which I am not. I just want us as a church to know that worship is not just music. My title here is actually “Worship Pastor,” so I’m not trying to put myself out of a job. However, here at Genesis we do see worship as just more than music. So with that being said, let me also say that we hold corporate worship in high regard as well. We believe that it is essential to a person’s personal and spiritual growth, and it also doesn’t hurt that corporate worship is supported by scripture.
Worship was intended not to be cheapened, but pure, as simple as an out-pouring of our hearts and minds to God. Worship is an overflow of our love for Him, it is not purely situational, and never simply an emotional response. It may sound cliché but we must fall to our knees and worship God even in the darkest moments of our lives because God deserves our worship even when things don’t seem right. Emotions are very much a part of our worship to God, but we must be careful not to think that if we do not feel anything emotionally that we have not indeed worshiped. Worship can be many things including music, art, prayer, fasting, the beauty of nature, or anything that brings God glory and recognizes God as the holy Uncreated One. We must not be led to think that praising God through song is the only way to worship Him because our God is limitless. We must not deny ourselves the pleasure of true worship because our God desires us to worship Him by any means possible. We must think rightly of worship and begin to find different ways in our life to worship God. Worshiping God in my life will look completely different than in your life. I want to challenge us all to begin to think about worship in a new way, and to find different ways to worship God.
As Mike begins his series on “Gardening for Dummies,” one of the emphases will be that everything he is teaching will look totally different for each person. Each week he will hit on a unique topic that deals with the essentials of spirituality. Let us be challenged to incorporate these things in our lives and see them as ways to worship God.