In my Bible I wrote several definitions of worship which I heard through the years…
- worship is coming to the master wanting his touch
- worship is obedience by faith
- worship is obedience by faith
- worship is the overflow of a heart that has no request to make (my favorite)
A dictionary definition looks like this. Notice what I have put in bold type.
“To worship is to show a lot of love and adoration for something. Religious believers worship gods, and people can worship other people and things too. Worship is an extreme form of love — it’s a type of unquestioning devotion. If you worship God, then you love God so much that you don’t question him at all.”
I always rather shy away from saying that people worship money or other people, etc. Somehow in my mind, worship is for God alone, yet even the dictionary verifies that we think of worship for things other than God.
My wonderful associate, Betty Lou Mann, who was amazing, sent this and I pass it on to you.
“In three short months, just like he did with the plagues of Egypt, God has taken away everything we worship. God said, ‘You want to worship athletes, I will shut down the stadiums. You want to worship musicians, I will shut down Civic Centers. You want to worship actors, I will shut down theaters. You want to worship money, I will shut down the economy and collapse the stock market. You don’t want to go to church and worship Me, I will make it where you can’t go to church.’ Maybe we don’t need a vaccine, maybe we need to take this time of isolation from the distractions of the world and have a personal revival where we focus on the only thing that really matters: Jesus.”
Humor me with my dislike of the use of worship except to God and allow me to use one of these words instead: attachment, devotedness, devotion, fondness, love, passion. Now the question: is your love and passion for God more than for things or prestige? Would you rather attach yourself to God and His desires or to people and activities? What really gives you the greatest satisfaction, pleasing God or pleasing self?
Everything on the other side of “or” is legitimate; the question is, which is more important?
Just remember, all of the “ors” can be taken away in a very short time but God’s proposition is forever.
Let’s get back to worship and use that word as the dictionary does: do you worship God or people and things?
Written By Neil Fichthorn: Rev. Neil Fichthorn is a seasoned conference and camping servant having served at Gull Lake Bible Conference, Sandy Cove Ministries as President, and an interim Executive Director at Pinebrook Bible Conference. He also served in church music for decades as a choir director and arranger. He has been Bill Welte’s mentor and friend for over 45 years.
