True WorshipMy dad recently put this question to me: “What is good praise and worship?”  I then asked if he meant in a church service or in general.  His response: “Both.”  I’ve been thinking about this a lot since.

First, I don’t really know what good praise and worship is in the context of a church service.  Oh, I definitely know what I like and what I think a good worship service looks like, but I also know God is much bigger than my preferences.

Second, true worship demands truth.  There must be no hiding, distorting, or acting.  You are who you are; you’ve done what you’ve done, and you feel how you feel.  If you can’t be honest about where you are when talking to God, he doesn’t really pay much attention.  Look at Jesus’ parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee praying to God.

I think worship can be stated simply as "Obedience with joy."
I think worship can be stated simply as “Obedience with joy.”  I look at worship as something beyond Sunday morning to your life the other 6.5 days of the week.  If you lack either of those elements, you aren’t worshipping.  There’s also no better way to show your worship to God than to obey him joyfully.  A few years ago, a movie called “Stardust” came out where a guy madly in love with a girl (not mutually) was asked, “And what’s she doing to prove how she feels about you?”  Do you love God?  Prove it.  God did.

A large part of praise worship includes giving thanks for all that God has done.  During the time of communion this week in church, I thought about how Jesus set up the only Christian ritual with the purpose “to remember me.”  How easy it is to forget and lose perspective of our lives.  I doubt the 9 healed lepers really lived out “It’s all about You.”  Whether intentional or not, it was clear that their focus was on themselves and the things around them.  Worshipful people are thankful people, realizing that all good things come from above.

Once, when I was deep in depression, I got mad about how I didn’t feel like thanking God and wrote these lyrics:

I want to praise You now
In the good days
when the promise comes my way
it’ll be so easy to praise
but I want to praise You now

In my opinion, the greatest hymn is “It is Well” and the greatest non-hymn worship song is “Blessed Be Your Name.”  In both cases, the songs are focused on God and worshiping Him in spite whether there is joy or pain currently in life.  And that’s when worship seems most real because of how hard it is.

Another thought I had was that worship is about exploring and even reveling in who God is.  The song “How Great Thou Art” is one of the best examples ever.  There many examples in the Psalms of this.  Psalm 25 is one such example.  Lines like “All the paths of the LORD are lovingkindness and truth,” “He will pluck my feet out of the net,” and “He leads the humble in justice” put who God is at the forefront.  God is the point and focus of worship.

Obey with Joy.  Be honest.  Thank God and remember what He’s done both in the good times and the bad times.  Focus on God.  That’s true worship.

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