Everyone knows why prayer is important right? Everyone knows why we should read our Bibles? These seem like pretty obvious ideas for Christians to implement. But what about worship?

I used to think worship as something that not everyone was supposed to do. I mean I have heard some people sing and I’m not quite sure how those noises can bring Glory to God. Regardless of my or your musical ability, worship is something that I think we can all benefit from partaking in.

So first off, perhaps the fact that some of us have been blessed with a good ear while others it seems were last in the line for musical ability. shows that worship is more than just music.

I think that much should be clear to most people; so how then can we move forward and offer a definition of worship that can welcome everyone.

Let me suggest one.

Worship is the realization that you are loved without merit.

There that’s it.

Notice how I didn’t say it’s trying your best at what ever gifts you have been given. Notice how I didn’t say it is leading worship or offering a homeless person a place to stay or giving money or helping your neighbor.

What if we took worship and made it a state of being rather than anything we do or don’t do for that matter?

When worship becomes about the music, or how holy we look or how many things we volunteer for we quickly forget why we are doing any of those things in the first place. In my previous posts I wrote about how I am discovering a love of worship music again.

Because I am a person that quickly became not about the God that the music is supposed to point to but about the music itself. I found myself last night listening to Gungor and it hit me. I wasn’t thinking about God. I wasn’t thinking about the lyrics. I wasn’t letting them remind me of who God is and how much I don’t have to prove anything. I wasn’t thinking of how that last time I sinned is forgiven and I am being redeemed.

It’s not that emotive music is wrong. It’s that the music is supposed to help us draw close to God and find peace simply in his presence.

Then and only then can the music have the power it is supposed to have.

To show us that we are loved.

To show us that we can find peace.

To bring hope.

God isn’t most glorified when we sing or serve using the best of our abilities or pray all day or read the Bible in a year. He is most glorified when we understand just a glimpse of how He truly feels about us.

Everything else is just actions that sooner or later will become about us.

There’s a story about a man in the Bible who’s boss left him some money to invest. Instead of investing it and earning more like his colleagues did, he simply hid it so that he wouldn’t lose it. Now maybe this story is about how we have talents from God and no matter how great or small they are, the important thing is to use them as best we can.

Or maybe it’s also about fear. The fear of the love we receive from God not being enough. So we take that love and we try and protect it. We risk losing it and if we lose it we may lose the love of God.

Our idea of God is one where His love is conditional, depending how we respond to his love. If we do well we get praised but if we mess up then God may disown us.

In the end the employee lost out not because he was simply lazy. He lost out because he didn’t see that he had nothing to prove. His colleagues weren’t afraid to invest because they weren’t afraid of losing their place if they made a loss.

Do we treat worship like this? That if we don’t do what God wants us to then God will be upset?

Worship when it’s natural and organic does lead to action.

But not because of duty, but because we know His love covers us entirely.

So there is nothing to fear and worship arises out of a natural gratitude for His love. Worship can’t be forced because sooner or later we will get tired or selfish. We will believe it makes a difference to God’s love for us.

And we’ll bury our gifts so we don’t lose them.

When really the only thing we’ll lose is ourselves.