peace . love . joy

Last Night, I attended Shine, a Christian "concert" organised by Chosen CF of the University of Surrey. The last act they had on was a team from Hillsong, and what the worship leader said fascinated me: ...

Worship in the Bible has been defined in many ways, they refer to many things, many angles, many attitudes. Undoubtedly, the English "worship" cannot suffice to even begin to hint to the vastness of the meanings, of the words in Hebrew and Greek that were so broadly grouped into that one English term.

Some Hebrew words translated into "worship" mean a physical posture (to postrate before, to bow down before, to kiss, &c.). And especially in the Old Testament, the act is associated with paying respect, paying homage to God, and is almost always used in the context of a specific place, the Temple or the Holy City, and sometimes even time.

In the New Testament, noting that well-used passage of John 4: 7-26, Jesus himself tears down the barrier of physical space, of physical time. He emphasizes the inner intangible state of the heart, of the spirit, of the mind. "Worship" can no longer be termed simply an act, but more than that, as someone suggested, it is both an act and a state.

More often than not, "worship" is linked very much to the idea of sacrifice, of displaying reverence, praise, submission, obedience, and the like.

How many of us know that worship is not simply the act?
That it is spawned in the hidden wonders of the heart and the spirit and the soul, that the mind acknowledges and expresses into outward witness-able actions. It requires the heart, the mind, the spirit, the body.

How many of us have heard our leaders insist that worship is not simply the part where we sing songs during a church service?
That worship goes far beyond that limited, fenced-off time, spilling over to engulf our entire lives. Every moment (I'd go so far as to say in waking consciousness and in sleeping, dreams), every moment of your life, you have a choice to worship God with the things you say, the actions you perform, the thoughts you think.

But how many of us actually realise that worship is more than that?
That it leads us to something that God desires us to obtain?
Worship, so defined by the Hillsong team leader, is to become more and more like the character of God.

The more I think of it, the more I think it true.
If worship is what we are to do, what we want to do every day, every second, every moment of our lives, meditating on God's character & His laws, praising His works, interceeding for others, begging forgiveness, sacrificing for His sake, obeying His commands, submitting to His will, conversing with Him, we cannot help but glorify Him in our doings and thinkings, we cannot help but become more and more like Him. The saying "what goes in, must come out" holds quite true both literally (with food) and metaphorically. The more time you spend with God, the more you become like Him. The more you worship God, the more you become like Him.

Our unifying purpose, my brethren, is to worship Him.
Our aim, my friends, is to become more and more like Him.
Worship leads us to that goal of Christ-likeness.

The more we worship Him in spirit and in Truth, the more we see how marvellous and how deserving He is of our praise, our adoration, our allegiance, our submission. We cannot help but want to worship Him as much we can. It may never feel nor seem enough what we do, but we want to and we do anyways. We give our best and try to out-do ourselves each successive time.

That is why we do what we do. Some of us sing, some jump, some dance, some sit quietly and reflect, some draw, some paint, some create, some cook, some clap, some raise their hands, some fall down, some weep, some write, some clean, some teach, some smile, some play...

And the more we reside in His presence, the more we converse with Him, the more we walk with Him,
the more our hearts beat as one with His, the more our characters bend to His,
the more we become like Him.

What goes in, must come out.

Worship - - - - - - > Christ-likeness