As you may or may not know, I was not raised in a Christian home, but a pseudo-Theistic home, where believed in the God of the Bible, and by faith knew the He existed, created everything, controlled everything, and knew the Ten Commandments; after all, we lived in a Christian nation, so that foundational truth was never in doubt; a love of God and country. And though my family only went to church once in a blue moon, that belief created a stable life and sense of daily security. We were happy and living the American dream. But, we truly just knew about God and trusted God, yet didn’t really “know God” closely and had no real concept about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, what was the real gravity of sin or about “saving faith”. Basically, we thought that God made us and protected us, that if we would live a good average life (meaning that the good things outweighed the occasional bad), then when we died we would go to Heaven; a casual relationship based more on intellectual assent. Yet, I actually once even experienced God clear and plain when I was young. Nobody could tell me that God wasn't real. Prayer was more like talking to God in childlike relationship. We were grateful and thanked God for this life, but actually worshipping God was really a foreign subject to us. I hardly knew any Bible verses and wonder if my life had anything between God’s face and mine? I wonder if any of you experienced a similar upbringing.
Psalm 29:2 “Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”
Worship is the Greek word “proskyneō”, which means “to kiss the hand of the Master” in token of profound reverence, supreme respect and veneration; make obeisance, whether in order to express loyal respect or to make supplication in homage to God. The 1828 Webster’s dictionary defines the word “worship: as: Chiefly and eminently, the act of paying divine honors to the Supreme Being; or the reverence and homage paid to Him in religious exercises, consisting in adoration, confession, prayer, thanksgiving and the like. John 9:31 says, “Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.”
Acts 17:24-27 “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”
But worship is also an outward expression by performing acts of praise and adoration or religious service. Our Sunday "Lord's Day" church gathering of Believers is a corporate Worship Service. Not just because of the life that the Lord gives, but because of God's plan of Salvation unto eternal life through Christ by faith does everything a child of God thinks, speaks and takes action upon is in worship. Our ever-present, almighty Father in Heaven is intimately involved in our lives. As Acts 17:28 says, “For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’"
Psalm 96:8-10 “Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come into His courts. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; The world also is firmly established,
It shall not be moved.”
In Christ, Brian
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