What is True Worship?
By Shauna Leis
“He replied, ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’’”
Mark 7:6-7 NIV
We cannot enter into a time of worship with our Heavenly Father, if we have not given up a part of ourselves first. True worship of God requires some form of sacrifice, and real sacrifice is never easy.
The first mention of worship came very early in the Bible during Abraham’s time. Abraham and his wife Sarah waited a very long time (try over 90 years!) for their only son – Isaac. So, I would imagine that Isaac was highly treasured by his parents. When Isaac was just a young boy, God appeared to Abraham and told him that he needed to bring Isaac to an altar in the region of Moriah and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering to God Almighty. Abraham never questioned God nor did he argue with Him. Genesis 22:3 records, “Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey.” Abraham did not even wait 24 hours to see if God was going to change His mind. He got up the next morning and took Isaac with him towards the Mount of Moriah, thinking that he was about to sacrifice the only son that God had given him.
Once they got closer to the region, Abraham left his servants and said in verse 5, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Abraham and Isaac then continued with the wood, the knife, and the fire. However, Isaac quickly noticed that they had nothing to sacrifice on the altar. In verse 8, Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” As Abraham prepares Isaac and lays him on the altar as the burnt offering, God calls out and stops him and shows him a ram caught in the thicket close to the altar to take the place of Isaac as the sacrifice. God honored Abraham’s faithfulness, his trust, and his willingness to truly worship the Almighty God by providing the sacrifice instead of requiring Isaac.
The Hebrew root for worship is “proskuneo” which means “to crouch, to prostrate oneself in homage, to reverence or adore.” Do you think of these descriptions when you go to your place of worship during the week, or would God describe your worship as “proskuneo”? May I challenge you that after hearing the story of Abraham we should consider whether we are approaching the Almighty God of the universe with the correct attitude for worship? Are we prostrating ourselves in homage to Him during our worship? Are we paying Him the reverence due to Him and adoring Him?
Psalm 95:6-7 says, “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.” Even if your church is not a “physically” kneeling church, we can “kneel” in our hearts and minds as we approach the Creator of the entire universe during our time of worship. Please do not let Sundays be your only time of worship. Can I challenge each one of us to worship God every day of our lives, all day long? A structured time of worship is always important, but God will welcome us any time that we approach Him with an attitude of honest and sincere worship. Remember that worship always involves some type of sacrifice on our part. When we are truly ready to worship and ready to give up all of ourselves, God Himself will fill in the gap of the offering required, just like He did with Abraham. Come, let us bow down in worship of Him now!
Pray with me: Oh, most gracious Heavenly Father! You are so incredibly worthy of all honor and all praise. We bow down low before You and approach with hearts and minds focused on worshipping You. Change our hearts to always be in a spirit of worship, every hour of every day! God, we know that we have to be willing to sacrifice our most precious materials over to You, but we rest in the fact that You own it all anyway. LORD, show us the true way to worship the Father through Your example that You set for us while You were here on earth. Teach us the way, LORD. We want every fiber of our beings to bring You all of the glory that is so due to You. We pray all of this in the precious name of our Savior, Jesus Christ!