Real Worship

In an earlier post worship was defined as:

The ascribing of worth to something or someone 

and is expressed through thoughts, emotion, and willful acts and language 

affecting every resource at one's disposal.

Let's take a moment to consider just a couple verses of God's Word.


We are commanded to glorify God in all that we do.

"Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God."

1 Cor. 10:31

We are always serving (worshiping) God or something/someone else.

"Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"

Rom. 6:16

Upon reflection of this definition and these verses here are my suggestions for the implications of Real Worship:



Worship is always active.
We constantly choose who or what we worship. We need to think about the object of our worship more often to keep our focus on the One who deserves it. Maybe you've heard it said:

"Just two choices on the shelf, pleasing God or pleasing self."

Worship is always giving or taking.
We show the 'worth' of our object of worship by what we offer or expect. When we are worshiping self, our expectation of others grows to uncontrollable and impossible limits. When we worship God, we offer sacrificially to Him which leads us to our next point.

Worship is always costly - to every asset of life.
We prioritize our time, money and all of our resources to the thing(s) we are worshiping. A good diagnostic tool in determining what we are worshiping is honestly asking ourselves where we spend our time and money.

Worship is always holistic - to every area of life.
All our thoughts, all our words, and all our actions worship. There is nothing that is "un-sacred" when it comes to worship. Ever think we have private things that don't concern God or others? Think again! Every area of life is affected by and actively worships our god/God.

Worship is always happening.
Considering the points above, how could there ever be a time we are not worshiping? With that in mind, we would do well to have the thought ever on our minds, "Who/what am I worshiping?"




Do you have anything to add to this? From your study of Scripture, what does Real Worship look like in our lives?

See What is Worship? for further discussion.

Jonathan Ward Copyright 2010. All Rights Reserved

What is Worship?

I recently attended a Praise Team orientation at our local church.  We sang together, reviewed our corporate 'policy' of blended worship and what that means, and spent some time considering this post's title question.

What is worship? What is real worship?

One of my greatest concerns is the movement calling anything to do with music "worship," taking the offering and then having a 'time of worship', or participating in 'worship' and then listening to a message. I dreadfully fear we are missing the point sometimes. It may seem like a matter of semantics but I try to watch for this in my own life and ministry by referring to the group I work with as a "Praise Team" as opposed to a Worship Team.

Why bother? What's the big deal?

Jon playing the Harp as unto the Lord in the City of David

Well, I think we are missing out when we relegate worship to the sad few minutes of singing we do as a corporate body of believers. If this is all worship is, then the worship we are offering is unworthy of so great a God. Think about it, if this is how we define worship, we are giving God a sparse few minutes out of our week. Worship must be more.

So what is worship?

As we considered this question, here is my suggested definition of worship:

Worship is ascribing worth to something or someone 

and is expressed through thoughts, emotion, and willful acts and language 

affecting every resource at one's disposal.

One of the things I realized in this exercise was that I need to choose to worship God all the time! God has wired us and all of creation to worship (Psa. 19) all the time. Not a moment goes by when I am not worshiping something or someone. I need to make sure the focus of my worship remains where it belongs - on our Almighty, Creator-Redeemer God day-by-day and even moment-by-moment.

What are your thoughts about worship?

How would you define worship? Do you have anything to add to the definition above?

Please leave a comment and stay tuned for the next installment as I consider Real Worship exploring the practical, far-reaching implications of worship.

Jonathan Ward Copyright 2010. All Rights Reserved