Our attitude toward worship says a lot about how we feel about God. That’s because our worship stems from our relationship with Him. If a person deeply loves the Lord, he will reflect that love and adoration in his worship. In this world where appearance is hailed as the real deal, we must be careful not to allow our worship to become merely superficial.
One of the dangers of any relationship is that of becoming too familiar with the other person. Our relationship with God is no different. In a worship setting, many tend to simply go through the motions of the masses. They adopt religious jargon and clichés, etc. We must not become so familiar with God over time that we passively worship Him.
True worship begins long before corporate worship does. Prior to the latter, you should prepare your heart for worship. God requires that because He looks on the heart and not the external.
Prepare Your Heart for Worship by Walking in Love
One of the important ways to prepare your heart for worship God is by walking in love toward your brothers and sisters in Christ. I am sometimes amazed at how one person who professes to be a Christian treats and hurts other members of the congregation. He or she refuses to make amends, while still coming to church to worship God as if there is no problem. But Jesus says:
“If you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”
Matthew 5:23-24, NASB
To God, our obedience to walk in love is far more important than our offerings to Him.
Spiritual Disciplines to Prepare Your Heart for Worship
Our worship experience should start long before we reach the house of God. All of us have the responsibility to prepare our heart before God prior to worship.
When you think about it, this is a radical change from the way many people approach worship. For many, their attitude toward worship is this: Just show up to church and expect the worship leaders to sing the right song, or the preacher to preach from the right text to stir their spirit to worship God. If that doesn’t happen, some will say the service was dead.
But church members should take a more active role in contributing to their church’s worship experience by developing these spiritual disciplines:
a. Study their Bible regularly
b. Practice obedience to the Word of God
c. Pray daily, asking God for forgiveness when necessary
d. Commune with God throughout each day.
These will keep us in a state of readiness for worship. Just imagine how energizing our worship service would be if the majority of our congregants were of this mindset.
In Psalm 100:4, the people of God are told to, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise….” Do you get the picture, here? As soon as the people entered the gate of the city, they were supposed to give thanks. By the time they had reached the outer court, they were supposed to be praising God. You see, worship had begun before they reached the house of God. We can become this kind of worshiper when we commit ourselves to keeping our heart right before the Lord.
The True Worshipers
If we want to be true worshipers, we must strive to keep our heart right before the Lord. It’s not enough for us to win the approval of men. They may speak well of us and feel convinced that we love the Lord because of what they observe us doing in the house of God and elsewhere.
But let us remember that “man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). He is not impressed with our outward show of devotion to Him. He wants to know where our heart is toward Him. He sees the motives behind what we do in His name.
Down with going through life haphazardly, and showing up to the house of God on Sunday or Wednesday or whenever just to go through a ritual, as if we do God a favor. He wants us to walk with Him daily, maintaining our heart before His holiness so that out of that relationship we might worship Him.
Those who prepare their heart to worship God this way are the true worshipers. Jesus told the woman that God seeks the true worshipers to worship Him. In another place, He talks about those who worship Him in vain (see Matthew 15:9). So, there are vain worshipers and there are true worshipers. Every church has both. The question is, which group do you belong to?
Copyright © 2022 by Frank King. All rights reserved.