Worship

 

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. ²¹ The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
Genesis 8:20-21

Worship is a synonym of exclusivity and priority. Worship requires our undivided holistic attention to the God who rejoices in our gratitude as a result of our character transformation. Although worship begins by recognizing God's amazing and unique work among us, ultimately it conveys an inward transformation in the heart of the worshipper. Worship is the most natural result after God reveals His faithful and consistent work around us.

Worship allows us to give God the place that He alone deserves not only for what He has done but for who He is. Worship gives people the ability to approach God under His terms and agenda. Worship is the vehicle that carries our God given desire to believe in Him even when everything around us may look impossible, chaotic and even irreversible; God alone is worthy of our trust.

Worship is the most tangible way to recognize that we are accepted by God because of what He has done through us. Thus being accepted by our Heavenly Father must be more important than what our God can do for us through worship, worship ultimately exposes God's tension between His justice and His grace. Worship empowers us to see our brokenness and separation from God by surrounding us with His love and mercy as He gives us what we need instead of allowing us to experience what we deserve.

Worship is not about making us better by giving us a quick fix of improvement or a methodology to avoid sin, mistakes or tragedy; worship is about the consistency of the character of God even when we aren't trustworthy. Worship enables worshippers to approach the Holiness of God not with the purpose to be accepted by the Object of our worship but to be reminded that we have been made whole by the righteousness of the Son. Worship is simply the manifestation of the redemptive work of the One who loved us first by dying on a cross.

It is worship that provides the opportunity for sinful mankind to be utilize by God to implement His goal of righteousness in this generation. Since all worshippers are evil before worship takes place and everyone remains evil even after the encounter with God, it is worship and worship alone that increases our dependence in the God who is righteous.

"...I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures..." Genesis 9:16