True Worship

"If thou turn away...from doing thy pleasure on my holy day...and shalt honor me, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord..." Isaiah 58:13, 14

Israel thought that they were practitioners of true worship (vs. 1-3), but God revealed it as merely self-worship (vs. 4, 5). True worship is a complete loss (or "denial") of self for the sake of another (vs. 6, 7). Only in when worship means that you are blissfully unaware of yourself, only in that is God pleased (vs. 8-14). All worship (whether they be of joy or sorrow) that has as its centerpiece the self is idolatry, and an abomination to the Lord.

Much of the noise that passes for 'worship' these days is this idolatry, mere self-exaltation. Whether it be obnoxious self-display or obnoxious self-depreciation, it is all self, and is thus idolatrous. In the constant debate (some would say war) over worship these days, we have heard such dumb-founded polemics as: "It's what I like." "It's my worship; I'll do it my way." "I want music that speaks to me." "It's not my thing, but whatever floats your boat." Not one person who has ever argued thusly has ever stopped to consider that all of their reasoning ultimately comes back to a centering on the self: what I want. Worship is never about the worshipper; it is about the one who is worshipped. Worship is to take us out of ourselves, out of our petty problems, preferences, and contexts, and get our minds solely and squarely focused on God and God alone. Any 'worship' that does not do that is merely idolatry in disguise.

"That singer was so good!" "The performance was awesome!" "I felt truly inspired!" "The music was what really captured me!" What chance has God through all of that? Exactly who or whom are we worshipping when we talk thus? While it is true that personalities, temperaments, and tastes will indeed vary amongst individual worshippers, it is equally true that the foundation of worship is a denial of self for the sake of adoring God, and that does not change no matter what "floats your boat."

"True worship,

True religion,

True life,

Is not in me,

It's in You..."

-Jon Vowell