In this class, we have discussed that worship is in essence to worth-ship or the act of assigning worth to something. I think that this may be is a little oversimplified. I believe that worship is the act of assigning worth to a benevolent deity in response to what you believe that deity has done for you. This may sound shallow, but I would disagree. Without God’s intervention into our lives, we would never know of his existence. Our faith would be built on speculation and on nothing substantial. So therefore, because we have substantial evidence of his existence we can respond with our act of worship.
But how do we worship this benevolent deity who has done so much for us? What could we possibly give to Him that He wouldn’t already have? The answer I believe lies within the action. You see, each and every human being has been equipped with a certain set of talents. Some can sing, dance, act, speak, write, love, or simply open up their homes to whomever. In response to the act of this benevolent God giving us these gifts and equipping us with them, it is our imperative to use them for his glory.
The apostle Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:14, to not neglect his gifts. I believe that this can be applied straight across the board. We need to not neglect the gifts that God has given us. In order to properly “assign worth” to this deity, we need to take the gifts that He has given us and essentially give them back. In this we find that merely living becomes an act of worship both unconscious and unconscious. Because what is life apart from an undeserved gift of this benevolent deity? Nothing.
So I have found that in order to worship God in spirit, we need to make the decision to live our life to the fullest in accordance with his word. We have been given the guidelines and in order to worship Him properly we need to follow them to the best of the ability that He has instilled us with. Thusly worshipping him in spirit. In order to worship him in truth, we need to be honest with ourselves. We must recognize our specific gifts and fine tune with so that they are acceptable tools in the hands of the master.
We should waste our time on frivolous abilities that will never come to us because it doesn’t match our function. I’m not implying that we give up all that is not useful, just simply that we concentrate more on what is useful and less on what is frivolous. Someone who cannot sing but can write or simply be hospitable shouldn’t waste time singing that would be better spent honing the skills that they do have. One cannot simply rest on one’s laurels in the kingdom of God.
This implies a great deal of things with our worship . . . Namely, the concept of first fruits. This is to say, we need to offer God our best not just what comes out first. In order, to properly worship God we need to do so with an ability that makes an unbeliever stymied. If we posses the spirit of the God of creation within ourselves, then it is imperative that we look like we do.
I believe my specific abilities to lie within acting. When I am on a stage, behind a character, I feel more connected to God than anywhere else. It was what I was created to do. If I simply banked on that and perpetually assigned myself to half-hearted Christmas plays that never truly unlock the potential of my talents then I have wasted the gift that God has given me. In order for it to be my worship, it must also posses some worth and in order to show that it holds worth to me, I must give it worth by giving it time.
What I have been discussing is for the most part my philosophy of personal worship. There is, however, a certain element of corporate worship that should also be addressed. I have stated above that not all sing. So does that mean in a corporate setting that I shouldn’t? No . . . perhaps not as a soloist but should I sing as an individual in a group? Yes. When we gather together in the name of the Lord something happens. It cannot be denied. When we raise our voices to the heavens in one accord in honor of God there is a power. I believe this ties more into worshipping the lord in spirit. We have the opportunity to openly commune with each other and with God in a public setting. We have the opportunity to make a public proclamation of faith with other people doing the same thing.
So in conclusion, God has established a connection with us through Creation and through his first coming. He has blessed us with wonderful gifts on top of blessing us with his grace. We respond to this benevolence with a symbolic act of appreciation and love. It is within this symbolic act that we find true worship. Where we connect with God in a way both similar and unique to fellow believers. We then take this connection and we share that with others in a corporate setting worshipping with each other in a way that unifies the body with one voice . . . a voice that reaches the heavens and touches the ear of the one who gave us the voice to begin with.
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