What is worship? It's easy to think of worship as what happens at 11am on Sundays. If that's the case, then the style and selection of music, the length of the prayers, the attendance, or the amount of the offering are judged as measures of the quality of the worship. But we know in our hearts that God is not concerned with any of those things. Graham Kendrick wrote, "Worship is first and foremost for His benefit, not ours, though it is marvelous to discover that in giving Him pleasure, we ourselves enter into what can become our richest and more wholesome experience in life." From Lamar Boschman, "When I worship, I would rather my heart be without words than my words be without heart." Yet how often do we leave a "worship" service and all we can think about are the things that kept us focused on ourselves or someone else instead of focusing on God? Do we even prepare ourselves to approach the holy God in worship? I'm just as guilty as anyone else in these things.
For myself, I find more inspiration in playing the piano for no audience, listening to music, painting a picture, or observing nature. Maybe that's because I am an introvert and usually prefer to spend my time alone. But I have also enjoyed services at Willow Creek and some other large churches, sometimes alone and sometimes with friends.
Perhaps my favorite Scripture is Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." That is the key to worship and to life. If we can learn to focus first on the Lord, the other things will fall into place. He has created us in His image, to be loved by Him and to love Him in return. Through Jesus He has freed us from the eternal consequences of sin and given us free access to the Father as His adopted children. If those things are at the forefront of our minds, worship and adoration of the Father comes naturally, no matter what circumstances we may find ourselves in.
The following has been attributed to Robert McGee in "The Search for Significance," though I can't find it in there. If that's incorrect I apologize to the author! I've had this posted by my desk for so long that I forgot it was there. I need to be reminded of these truths again.
"Because of Christ's redemption,
I am a new creation of infinite worth.
I am deeply loved,
I am completely forgiven,
I am fully pleasing,
I am totally accepted by God,
I am absolutely complete in Christ.
When my performance reflects my new identity in Christ,
that reflection is dynamically unique.
There has never been another person like me
in the history of mankind,
nor will there ever be.
God has made me an original,
one of a kind, a special person."
