What is Worship? By Elizabeth Neimeyer

Some people believe that worship is singing praises to God, while others believe that it’s serving God by serving His people. Paying tithes is also viewed as a form of worship. While these behaviors are responses to God’s blessings upon us, they are not all there is to worship.

Merriam-Webster defines worship as having “excessive admiration of or devotion to (a person); showing honor or respect to (someone) as a divine power.” These attributes can also be applied to objects and situations.

Humans were made to worship; it’s in our DNA. In its simplest form, worship is an attitude of the heart. It focuses our resources on a singular person or object. It is our response to what we value most, what we put first in our lives. Everybody worships something: a person, a relationship, a dream, an activity—stuff.

What do you worship? Look at how you portion out your resources, such as time, energy, affection, money, and your loyalty. A spouse or children may get some or all of your resources. A job that provides for your family also consumes a lot of time. But what captures your heart and all these resources the most? Is it an activity, a person, a hobby, your job, or God? You likely worship whatever is worth most to you, and this determines the driving force for all that you do. 

Faith is where true worship begins. Faith, the belief in who Jesus is and what the Father has done for us through Him, opens the way for us to know and glorify Him. True worshipers are those who worship the Father from the heart with all of their might. “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” John 4:14 Worship helps believers discover the connection between His infinite worth and their own inner longing to love something supremely.

True worshipers have a whole-life response to God’s greatness and glory—a response that touches our mind, our soul, our heart of passion, and all our strength. “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.” Psalm 91:14 Lou Giglio puts it this way in his book The Air I Breathe, “Worship is our response to God. In other words, we don’t initiate worship; God does. He reveals. We respond. He loves. We love in return. He calls. We answer. He leads. We follow.”

Led by this love, our worship in turn motivates our actions and our lasting achievements. Worship is the soil out of which meaningful Christ-centered endeavors grow. It is the motivation that turns every task into a demonstration of our love for God.

Many people don’t fully realize all that Jesus Christ has done for them. New believers don’t always fully comprehend their new standing with God in Christ to break free from the enemy’s lies. They try to worship, but their self-condemnation silences their praise. Their hearts are restrained by guilt, and shame stifles their songs. Isaiah 29:13 tells us, “The LORD says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”

No wonder their worship is frail. No wonder more people aren’t breaking out in dances of unrestrained celebration, shouting out praise to Jesus. Maybe they’re not hearing or understanding the whole Gospel. Too many of us are living in far less than we have in Christ.

Jesus is our life. Through Him, we are born again—adopted children of the Creator of all things, permanently attached to Him. Jesus’ righteousness is now our righteousness. He has paid our debt in full. Sin’s power is broken, and death is defeated. In Jesus Christ, we’re alive and free. Through Him, we are rescued and eternally forgiven, washed clean, re-created, and made new. Romans 8:1-2 reads, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.”

In the book How To Worship A King, Zack Neece states, “If the price that Jesus paid on the Cross proves how much we are worth to God, our worship proves how much God is worth to us. Our worship shows the world how valuable our God is. Worship demonstrates that we have a Savior worth loving, worth living for, and, if need be, worth dying for.” 

What God has revealed to us about Himself goes beyond our words of gratitude. What He has done on our behalf makes it impossible for us ever to repay Him. But what we can and must do is give Him everything we have through a life of service to Him and to those around us.

Chuck D. Pierce tells us in his book The Worship Warrior, “Through worship we have intimate contact with God and unlock His blessings. As we come close to Him in true worship, He will renew and reshape our hearts, and we will see His heart.”

Worship, pausing, and being still are not inactivity. It is taking the time to reflect upon God, remembering who He is and what He has done. Worship requires attention. It is not something that we do half-heartedly. Our worship is a personal commitment, marked by the sound of singing and making music to a steadfast God. This sound of worship also involves speaking and meditating on God’s majesty, reflecting on an inner devotion that manifests outwardly. It isn’t confined to a specific time but is meant to be a continuous offering of thanks to God.

A worshipper is a person who has complete free will and freedom to choose, but loves God so much that he chooses to serve and obey Him because there is nothing he would rather do. We each have a part to play in God’s plan for us. To partner with Him means we must learn to worship.

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” Revelation 4:11