Articles
What does Worship mean to you?
To many people in many different parts of this world, worship may mean something entirely different than what we are accustomed to. Depending on cultural circumstances and the particular religion involved, worship could mean sacrificing a goat or it could mean sacrificing a young child (unfortunately this is true). Worship can only be appropriately dictated and defined by the scriptures.
Worship is defined as: Veneration given to God in conjunction with love and sacrificial service. On every page in our bibles worship carries this meaning. Worship is not done to anyone other than YHWH, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. There are examples of men seeking to worship other men and even angels in the scriptures but in those situations, they are rebuked for that (cf. Acts 10:25-26; Rev. 19:10; 22:8-9). The point is only God is deserving of worship.
Worship is not a noun but an action. I admit, we use the word as a noun from time to time to refer to our congregating on Sundays and Wednesdays. The word, however, seeks to place essential emphasis on the actions that should by necessity follow the use of such a word. In the scriptures worship was often accompanied by prayers, offering of sacrifices, singing, bowing down, keeping quiet etc. These are all specific actions taken by individuals denoting absolute reverence to God, the creator of the universe.
When we say we will go to worship God, we ought to reflect on those words and think about how important it is to God that we worship Him with the correct actions and with a pure and humble heart. We should never take worship to the Almighty lightly. Nadab and Abihu learned that the hard way (cf. Lev. 10:1-2).
When we come together and every time we come together, may our actions and our hearts reflect absolute reverence to God. Worship is not done for entertainment nor is it done to make us feel good about ourselves. When we worship God, we ought to think about how awesome He is and how broken we are. Facing such realizations can help us to improve our lives as Christians.
