As Christians, we often use praise and worship interchangeably. In the Bible, however, we find commandments to worship God and commandments to praise God. These two are not the same.
Praising God
First let’s talk about praising God. In the very last verse of the book of Psalms, we find the words, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6, NASB). Praising God is akin to offering thanksgiving to Him. Praising God is characterized by joyful or celebratory expressions of His goodness that He has shown toward us.
I love hearing and singing songs of praise during public worship assemblies. The lyrics to these songs exalt the Lord’s name and His amazing goodness to us. As I sing, I can meditate on the words to the songs. They strike serious chemistry with my inner being because I can relate to what I am singing about. I love the joyful noise we make when the people of God praise Him through singing and instruments.
Of course, we don’t have to wait until we go to the house of God to praise Him. We can praise God without music. We can praise Him at home or anywhere. In fact, I believe spontaneous praise is the most genuine kind of praise we can offer God.
Worshiping God
Now let’s talk about worshipping God. According to the verse quoted above, everything that has breath should praise the Lord. The point is that you don’t have to be a Christian or even a religious person to praise God. Anyone with the breath of life and who acknowledges God’s goodness in his or her life as praiseworthy is commanded to offer praises to God.
But worshipping God requires interacting with Him on a more intimate level. According to Jesus, those who worship God “must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). First, let’s consider the word worship that Jesus uses here. It is the word “προσ-κυνεω (pros-koo-NE-oh), meaning to bow down or to prostrate oneself to. So, worship denotes acts of reverence to God. And Jesus said we must do so in spirit and in truth.
Most local Christian churches refer to their weekly public gathering as a worship service or gathering. And generally speaking, any assembly dedicated to showing reverence to God can be called a worship gathering. But remember, God requires us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. So, consider the following:
Those who come to worship God but who reject His Son are not worshiping Him in spirit and truth because to reject the Son is to reject the Father.
If you come to worship but do not acknowledge Him as the God of your personal life, you are not worshiping Him in spirit and truth because in effect you don’t reverence Him as God.
The church attendee who shuts down or becomes a busy-body when the ministry of the Word is being ministered is not worshiping God in spirit and in truth because to disregard the Word of God is to reject God speaking to us.
Christians Should Do Both
Worshiping God and praising God are important in the life of a Christian. Our worship gatherings and our personal time with God should include times of praise AND times of worship. In the Scriptures, we are commanded to worship God AND to praise God. Praise is about God. Worship is to God.
Copyright © 2023 by Frank King. All rights reserved.