| Real Worship |
Real Worship
"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and
wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!"
— Revelation 5:12
A number of words in the Bible are translated "worship." The one used
the most often means "to bow down and do homage." Another biblical
word for worship means "to kiss toward." Put the two words together,
and you will have a good idea of what real worship is. We worship God
because He is worthy. In doing so, we bow down and pay homage to
Him. That speaks of reverence and respect for God. But we also "kiss
toward" Him, which speaks of tenderness and intimacy.
We ought to be learning all we can about worship, because it will be
one of the primary activities of heaven. And Jesus made it clear that
there is a right way and a wrong way to worship. There is true and false
worship.
The Pharisees, who thought they were experts at worship, were by and
large not even close. Jesus said of them, " 'These people draw near to
Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far
from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the
commandments of men' " (Matthew 15:8–9).
Some people are too flippant and casual with God. They seem to think
of Him as their celestial Big Buddy and approach Him that way in
prayer: "Hey, Lord, how are you doing?" Others recognize God as holy
and all-powerful and may even tremble before Him, but they don't
realize that God wants to be known in an intimate and personal way.
We are to revere God. We are to honor Him. But we are also to
embrace Him in closeness. We are to engage our hearts, with no
hypocrisy. That encompasses true worship.
"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and
wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!"
— Revelation 5:12
A number of words in the Bible are translated "worship." The one used
the most often means "to bow down and do homage." Another biblical
word for worship means "to kiss toward." Put the two words together,
and you will have a good idea of what real worship is. We worship God
because He is worthy. In doing so, we bow down and pay homage to
Him. That speaks of reverence and respect for God. But we also "kiss
toward" Him, which speaks of tenderness and intimacy.
We ought to be learning all we can about worship, because it will be
one of the primary activities of heaven. And Jesus made it clear that
there is a right way and a wrong way to worship. There is true and false
worship.
The Pharisees, who thought they were experts at worship, were by and
large not even close. Jesus said of them, " 'These people draw near to
Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far
from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the
commandments of men' " (Matthew 15:8–9).
Some people are too flippant and casual with God. They seem to think
of Him as their celestial Big Buddy and approach Him that way in
prayer: "Hey, Lord, how are you doing?" Others recognize God as holy
and all-powerful and may even tremble before Him, but they don't
realize that God wants to be known in an intimate and personal way.
We are to revere God. We are to honor Him. But we are also to
embrace Him in closeness. We are to engage our hearts, with no
hypocrisy. That encompasses true worship.
| C4W Devotions are used by permission from Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie P.O. Box 4000 Riverside , CA 92514 |