Worshipping Worship

For many, today is a day of worship. We enter into our sanctuaries, our auditoriums, our Fellowship Halls and our worship rooms all in the name of God. We worship through music, the spoken word and through liturgy. Our styles and traditions may vary, but we come to worship in the name of Jesus. 

Or do we? Too often we judge our worship experiences by human standards. We either love the soaring guitar solos or miss the classic beauty of organ music. We love singing the hymns our parents sang or we throw our hands in the air at the direction of a praise leader leading us in the newest songs. We listen to sermons, either soaking in the teaching or complaining about how long it is to our neighbor. We may be at church because it communion Sunday; or we may be skipping church for the same reason. We wonder about baptism. Is it for babies or adults? Is it blasphemous to be baptized for a second time? And why does THIS pastor do it THAT way- our last one was MUCH better? Our thought process often revolves around how  the elements of worship effect ME rather than how do they help me praise God. We often seem to worship the act of worship more than we worship the One who created both it and us.

Do we show up for church services expecting a "good show" or anticipating the presence of God? Do we despise change in our worship styles because we are certain that God hates change as well? Do we sing words of praise because we want to bring glory and honor to our Creator or because it has a good beat and we can clap to it? Are we in church to hear a preacher or to seek out THE teacher? Do we gather to hear what God has to say to us, or because we have always gone to church? These are important things to know. We may be able to fool ourselves into believing we understand worship, but we cannot fool God- because God is no fool. Now go- and give praise to the LORD!