What is Worship?

To me, worship is 2 things:

1. What you were built for (the reason God made you).
2. Valuing God

Firstly, from Genesis it is clear God made us to be in partnership with him on the earth. To be good stewards of all things on his behalf. So what am I stewarding? What did God make me for personally?

I am many things: a worker, a father, a husband, as well as a musician/sound engineer.

As a worker, I have found that I am good at some things, and not so good at others. Through the early years of my working life I have wandered from job to job, working to fund the rest of my life with no real appetite for the boring mundanity of it all. However, we should be working as if we were working directly for God himself. It is better to do right by your co-workers, be a good team player, and lend them a hand in their lives when they need it. You might be in the wrong job, but it doesn’t mean God can’t still use you as his hands and his feet wherever you may be.

As a father, I have become more aware of how God must feel and care about his creation, and how I view other people. As a young man, it was very easy to be self centred and I was often dismissive of others. After all, for most of my life to that point, I had been working on cutting apron strings and becoming more and more independent, and now that was reversed. Having another tiny human life being fully dependent on you is humbling. My parents weren’t perfect and I’m fully aware I’m not either, but it is a privilege to take part in creation. It is also fascinating. Does God enjoy watching us grow as much as I enjoy watching my little one take his first steps, or learning to swim, ride a bike etc.? This also made me much more tolerant. Everyone else out there is also someone’s child and they are sometimes good and sometimes wayward, but regardless, full of worth to their loved ones. We should endeavour to care for each other in whatever we come across, even as it may be a kindness to all manner of connected people we may not see directly.

As a husband, I’ve found that the opposite sex can be a fathomless mystery (said every man ever!). Most marriages have difficult patches but my eyes have been gradually opened in so many ways as to the broad experience of being human and understanding how others feel. Being factually correct doesn’t always mean you are in the right. Loving and supporting your spouse often means giving way on things that might be important to you for their benefit, (I stayed in my old job while we built up my wife’s business first before launching the studio). A husband should lead the way, rather than boss his family, and he should cherish his wife, (a good wife is worth her weight in gold).

As a musician/sound engineer, God has blessed me greatly. I’ve always loved making music and tinkering with things, so my musical skills and technical abilities have grown naturally over time. Not only that, but since I have brought these things to God’s table to serve fellow believers, I have been guided through many troubles, but always come out the other side in a better position each time. Since working for his glorification rather than mine, things have only got better. I am now stewarding the gifts he gave me.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Romans 12:1

Now, about valuing God…

Seems an odd thing to consider. How can you put a value on God? Well funnily enough, the word “Worship” comes from the old english “Worth-ship”. Like the word craftmanship means something that is well crafted, “Worthship” means something that has great worth. Worshipping God simply means putting him before all else, or as Jesus put it, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Praise – music and singing, is simply acknowledging this with your mouth.

Here’s a great illustration:

 The tale is told a few different ways with slightly different morals to the story, but I hope you can see, we all benefit when we work for each other.