Responding in Worship

Worship and recognition go hand-in-hand.  If we recognize who God is in His majesty our response will be worship.  If we were to think of worship in terms of relationship, then, recognizing the person and character of God must precede and dominate any offering of praise because love requires knowledge.

Consider Isaiah, taken on the clouds to the heavenly throne room to see God in His infinite, incomprehensible glory.  His only response is to stammer and cry out, "Woe is me!"  To truly stand and face God's character and person is to recognize His holy awesomeness in contrast to our sinful depravity and utter smallness.  We are but blades of grass in comparison to Him.

Recognizing Christ Jesus for who He is encompasses so much of Christian faith.  Upon conversion we see the glorified Son, who took on the sin of all mankind.  Thus recognizing Jesus we align ourselves to Him by faith and receive grace; true worship.  Additionally, at the end of times we will be given the ultimate gift, finally being able to see Him as He truly is (1 John 3:2).

Worship is this: recognition and response.  To see God as He is will prompt a response of reverence and fear, struck in awe before a holy and infinite God.  Therefore, the first and continual step in living out a life of worship is learning who He is in ever greater measure.  Through faithful and Spirit-filled Bible study, prayer, and fellowship we learn more about Him which will compel us to live  a life of worship.

Unfortunately, in our ever-secular new age post-modern world, worship has become a watered-down verb that can refer to anything a person may wish to honor and praise.  This is both tragic and condemnable.  Only God is worthy of our worship because only God, upon humble recognition of who He is, is worth it.   Therefore, those that refuse to worship the Lord Almighty do so not because they have actually seen God and found Him unworthy of praise; God forbid!  Rather, those that refuse to worship the Lord do so because of a pedetermined disposition to not see God as God, but to see Him as something whimsical, detestable, and less than God.

At the final analysis, God is the only One who deserves our praise.  This is His world; He made it in all its intense vastness and minute intricacy using nothing more than the very power of His Word.  He sustains us moment by moment.  If we would spend time every day simply contemplating Him, we would be so totally drawn to Him in worship that we would live lives of worship, constantly in awe at the Holy Lord.  Worship really can be that simple!