Worship.... what does that even mean??

Worship in its general meaning is pretty much the same in its religious meaning. The act of putting something above all else and paying tribute to it.

When you think of the stereotypical worship you might imagine a bit of bowing, kneeling, maybe even a bit of singing.

In the simplest way I can put it, I think worshipping is making something more important than ourselves or other people, but most importantly God.

As humans we are made to worship. We devote our time and effort into something, we have a purpose and a meaning and quite often we define ourselves by our values and what we are striving for.

For some people it's money. Money is, has been, and always will be one of the biggest motivators for people all over the world.

For some it's power. Often power is related to money but not always; sometimes influence, standing, position especially in a work environment is what people crave and make the most important thing in their life.

For some it's some sort of activity. This could include work, sports, hobbies and anything else that takes up time.

For some it's other people. Celebrities, personalities, friends, bosses, family members, anyone!

For some it's food, for some it’s alcohol, for some it's material things, the list goes on and on.

So when you begin to think about how we might sometimes regard these things listed, worship becomes something a bit different than the bowing, kneeling and singing stereotype of worshipping. It is simply valuing things in life more than ourselves.

To paraphrase Matthew 22 from the bible, Jesus tells us that there are 2 commandments that we must follow. Simply 2!

+ Love God with everything that you have and everything that you own.

+ Love other people the same as you love yourself.

In other words, put God first in everything, and don't value yourself more than anyone else. Does that match up with what we said about worship?

Let's go for point 2 first, love everyone else equally, the same as you love yourself. This discounts worshipping other people, this discounts power over people, and I mean the sort of power that leads to manipulation or misleading; clearly people have power to influence and that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Now point 1, love God more than anything else. If the second part hadn't discounted everything, it's all out of the question now! Food, activities, money, alcohol, materials, anything!

"Okay," I hear you saying - "but why should I listen to that? Why should I care?"

Well let me tell you a truth, and this is true in my life, and in the lives of so many of my friends, family and others:

You will never be fulfilled by anything other than God.

At the end of the day, we worship when we are fulfilled by something.

We can become rich - we can always be richer.

We can become powerful - we can always have more power.

We can eat - we are always hungry again.

We can idolise other people - we will never be exactly like them.

We can get really good at something - we can always get better.

With God, there is no better. Your Spirit is filled. Your hunger and thirst for more is gone forever. God tells you that you are perfect just as you are, that you were made that way and you reflect the glory of God wherever you go.

Jesus once said: "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35

God values us above all things, each one of us. He loves us as much as he loves Himself and he fulfils us. All he asks in return is that we love Him who made us more than all else.

Again, I hear you ask, "How do I worship something that I can't even see?" In my very first post called 'God is in the little things' I wrote about how we see God.

He is everywhere around us. Everything is in Him.He is in a smile, a hug, the warm breeze on your face, a good deed, the beauty of a sunset, the brilliance of colour in autumn, the kind word, the breath-taking view, the very miracle of us being here on Earth!

Everywhere you see Love, you see God.

Worshipping God is as easy as appreciating these things. It's as easy as breathing. God gives us life, there is no life without God.

Yes we can sing, and yes we can dance, and yes we can shout but don't we want to do that anyway when we get excited about something? When we are enjoying going out doing something, when we're having a great meal with your husband or wife of friends and family, when you get a promotion at work, when you help someone by leading them and empowering them.

See the things that we have a habit of worshipping that are not God, are not bad things in general. The difference between worshipping them and worshipping God, is the knowledge and appreciation that God created those things for us to experience and enjoy.

Try these:

"Thank you that I am alive"

"Thank you that I have shelter, somewhere to live and sleep"

"Thank you that I am safe from harm."

"Thank you that I can go and <insert activity here>"

"Thank you that I have a great/well-paid/fulfilling/hard job and that I am able to do it."

Do any of those resonate with you?

Yes??

You just worshipped God.