To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of
God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the
beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the
purpose of God.

William Temple

I realized today how quick and easy it is to fall into a pattern of non-worship.  I don’t believe the culture I was born into is very comfortable with the term worship.  We don’t know what to do with it.  What does it even mean?  For some it is synonymous with singing a certain genre of song.  For others it involves mysterious spiritual rituals and practices.  But it is so disconnected from most people’s daily lives (sadly even those within the Christian realm) it is almost anachronistic.

In the simplest of definitions, I think worship is "reflecting back to God His infinite worth" in whatever form that can take.  As finite beings it is always going to be a flawed undertaking, but we have this going for us, 1.) we were created in His perfect image (and there is always a remnant of that buried under our sin), and 2.) when we put on Christ, as we are privileged to do as believers, that is who God sees–Christ.

If we are not reflecting God’s goodness/worthiness/righteousness back to Him with the outpouring byproduct of our lives, then we are missing it.  We are just like the pharisees running through our religious and fruitless routines.  I feel like I’ve been missing it lately (maybe for a long time.)  It’s an easy thing to do–non-worship.  In the midst of all the "good things", the theology, the practice, the disciplines, the fellowship, the community, the fruit, the blessings, the hope for the kingdom, and the various activities that define the Christian life, we miss Christ.  We miss Him.  The theme becomes me all over again.  And I know it’s not about me.  I’m not dumb.  But you sit down for a minute.  You read a verse of scripture.  The Holy Spirit does her thing.  And you realize, in a dumbstruck sort of way: this is not about God either.  I want it to be about God.  He’s the one I serve.  But somehow…along the way…He became peripheral.  I marginalized Him.  I left Him out there as a concept and a cause instead of allowing Him to invade my space.  It has become impersonal duty instead of a passionate love affair.

Once again I forgot what it means to worship.

I promised myself I’d keep this post brief so I’m going to leave it here for now.  I am still pondering this truth.  Wanting to be a worshiping son again.  I am so thankful (appreciative, blessed) to serve a forgiving and compassionate Abba.  He gently nudges me when I need it most. This IS about Him.  All of it.