God’s Definition of Worship
And He said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’
Matthew 22:37,38,39 (NASB)
God calls us to true worship. . . Worship as God sees it. It’s not what our culture thinks it is, or even what many church attendees think it is. God defines worship as “love”: “Love the Lord your God” (Matthew 22:37). Love is a verb, not a noun or an adjective here. It requires doing, not just attending, watching, or believing. You haven’t worshipped by attending church, listening to a sermon, singing hymns, or giving money. You’ve only worshipped when you’ve loved, adored, and honored. Worship is love.
Worship is loving God: “Love the Lord your God.” Worship is about God, not us. It’s not about what we “get” from the hour, but what we give to God. You are not the audience, and church staff members are not the performers. Worship leaders exist to help you do your job as worship “coaches,” leading you to love God.
But there’s another part to this worship and love equation. We are to love our neighbor as ourself. In regards to our brothers and sisters in Christ, He wants us to be reconciled before we can truly worship Him. He takes this so seriously that in Matthew 5:23,24 we’re told if we have something against someone, we’re to leave our gifts at the altar and first go and be reconciled. And that loving of our neighbor also extends to those who don’t know Christ as Savior. We’re to love them like Jesus loved them. (Ephesians 5:1,2)
Let us seek to love well and experience worship in our lives today.
amen sweet sis.
What a great reminder to love God with our full attention. And worship is not only a Sunday thing to do, but daily through our actions and love.