Our Sunday school class at church has been going through the book of John, and right now we are in the middle of John chapter 4. A couple weeks ago, we studied verses 22-24, which talk about worship. I was tremendously blessed by the study, and I want to share with you some of the things that were impressed upon me about worship.
First, worship is not about getting, it is about giving. Far too often, my tendency is to come to church and get spiritually recharged for the next week. While this thinking is not wrong, it is not worship. Psalm 96:7-8 says, "Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the L\ORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto His name: bring an offering, and come into His courts." Worship is all about giving the Lord what He is due. It's like the moment when we are searching the scriptures for direction/comfort, and a verse jumps out that totally fits the situation. That calls for worship.
This runs into our second point: worship is an act of gratefulness. Jesus said, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." Not only must we worship Him by following His commandments, we must have the proper attitude of worship. It would be the response of a slave who discovers his master has bought him to set him free. It is showing gratefulness for an action that was totally unmerited by the recipient.
I would like to encourage you: cultivate an attitude of worship. Think often about the great blessings God has given you that you don't deserve. You are educated enough to be able to read this, and understand it. You are affluent enough to have access to a computer and the internet so that you can read this. You have been given the gift of life today, something you totally didn't deserve. Think about these things, and worship the God Who gave them to you.
