Worship and Feelings

“These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.” (Matthew 15:8-9 NLT)

The words above, quoted by Jesus from Isaiah 29, challenge me as I ponder exactly what worship IS and why it is so vitally important? As I understand it, worship is a posture of the heart that enables us to voluntarily position ourselves before a holy God as needy and unworthy.

The word used in the verse above translated “worship” is derived from a word that means to kiss, and the picture painted is a dog licking his master’s hand. It’s an involuntary response to a love and devotion that flows from the heart of one who loves and is devoted to their master.

It’s an act of reverence often accompanied by “falling to our knees and bowing with our forehead on the ground, in an effort to do homage or to make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication.” (Strong’s) Even so, worship isn’t as much about the position of our body as it is the attitude of our heart and mind.

We’re so prone to think of worship as an activity, something we attend or in which we participate, rarely stopping to consider worship isn’t something we experience, rather it’s a deliberate act of positioning our heart, mind, soul, and body into submission to the One who owns us and has every right to do with us as He wishes.

Elisabeth Elliot, wrote: “Worship is not an experience. Worship is an act, and this takes discipline. We are to worship in spirit and in truth. Never mind about the feelings. We are to worship in spite of them.” We tend to attribute certain emotions to worship, believing the more we get worked up emotionally, the better “worship” we experience.

And yes, of course, we can have an emotional response to the presence of God, but to believe we ONLY experience true worship when we have an emotional response is to miss the point of worship. Worship isn’t about us, how we feel or what we experience, it’s a decision we make regarding an appropriate expression of devotion to, our adoration of, and dependence upon our Savior.

A true, Biblical view and understanding of worship positions us to see God as He is and ourselves as we are – empty, lost, void of meaning, identity, worth, or value apart from the revelation of ourselves in and through the Person of Jesus. Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross accomplished far more than our forgiveness of sin, it allowed for a repositioning of our personhood.

We have no identity except as children of God. Worship enables us to recognize that apart from Jesus we are nothing and can accomplish nothing of eternal value. Yes, of course, we celebrate who we’re becoming as children of God, but we can never lose focus of to Whom the glory belongs. Had Jesus not died in our place we would be hopelessly lost for all eternity, without purpose, value, or identity.

Jesus gives us all those things and many more, so, worship becomes our means of offering to Him our thanksgiving, yes, of course, but it also gives us opportunity to express our undying dependence upon Him for every dimension of our being. And while realizing those things may have an emotional dimension, it’s our heart, mind, soul, and body that must collaborate to give full expression to our worship.  

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊