True Worship

We sing the song during worship “True Worship”, but what is true worship? The song talks about coming together to sing and pray, giving our offering, eating the bread, and drinking the cup. Is “true worship” criticizing the person who gives the announcements because they are repetitive, excessively long and useless because everything is written in the bulletin anyway? Is “true worship” thinking about how long the opening prayer is and wishing it was over? Is “true worship” critiquing the song leader for the songs he picked and the extravagant way he leads the singing? Is “true worship” critiquing the preacher for the lesson he chose? It’s too strict, it’s too dry, it’s too long, and he’s too monotone. Is “true worship” critiquing everyone else who is there to worship? They may not dress the way you think they should, they are not focused like they should be, their personal lives are not reflective of how they personify themselves at worship, they sinned in the past and you still look on them in that light.

I think we all know that these things are not “true worship”, but many times we may fall into one or more of these sinful traps. When we attend worship services we are to be focused on God. Jesus says in John 4: 21-24:

Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

As we read here, we see that the “True Worshippers” will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. These are the people who look beyond the irrelevant issues of who is directing our minds in worship, but instead focus directly on the words they are saying so that they can apply these words to their lives. These are the people who find ways to make direct application from the things being said, sung, taught, etc., to their personal lives to enrich all those they come in contact with on a daily basis.

If we all focus our hearts and minds on being “True Worshippers” at all times, love for our God, Lord, and Savior as well as our fellow man will be greatly increased and we will be blessed even more than we already are.