Worship Is

By Mark Smeby

Worship is....a choice. I have a choice as to how I’m going to respond to God’s love for me. I could sit around my house and revel in the fact that the God of the Universe is passionately in love with me. Or I could allow that powerful love to be the fuel that gets me out of the house, filled with strength, courage, compassion, and creativity to interact with the world around me.

I’ve tried worship where I sing with eyes closed, arms outstretched, seeking to have a “good worship experience.” And sometimes I feel all gushy and warm, like “God really showed up.” But the fact remains that God has shown up...and will continue showing up...regardless of how I feel. Actually, it requires me to have more faith in the truth of God when the “feelings” of His presence are absent.

Worship is...continually choosing to not place such high value on my own feelings, and to place higher value on the people that God puts in my life--people who are desperately wanting to experience God’s love, hope and compassion. I receive from God, not so I can hold onto it, but so  I can give it away to others.

God so loved the world that....he gave His only son. God showed his love to the world by sending his son. I desire to show God my own love for him...in worship. The best way I can do that, in my opinion, is by sending myself out into the world around me. God so loved me that...I can give my own life away to others.