Jump Start # 3944
Genesis 22:4-5 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. 5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.
Throwback Thursday: an article written from long ago
Recently I had a discussion with someone who was convinced that all of life is worship. He said, “Everything we do is worship. Our life is worship.” That is not a new idea. I have read books that have said the same thing. But something stuck with me when this person declared, “Everything we do is worship.”
Just when is worship Worship?
Is sitting in the dentist chair worship? What if a person isn’t thinking about God, is it still worship?
Is mowing the yard worship?
How about sitting in a movie theatre watching a show? Is that worship?
What about when a person is in bed asleep? Is that worship?
It seems that this comes down to nothing more than defining worship as existence. If a believer sitting in a dentist chair constitutes worship, what about the nonbeliever in the next room in the dentist’s office? Is he worshipping God?
The more I thought about this, the stranger this all seemed to me. How can a person worship without thinking about the one he’s worshipping?
I turned to my Bible to see if I could find an illustration of when worship is worship. In Genesis 22, Abraham is preparing to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. That would be worship.
This passage shows Abraham telling his servants to stay with the donkeys while he and Isaac go and worship. That statement tells us that:
Saddling the donkeys wasn’t considered worship.
Riding donkeys to the place of worship wasn’t considered worship.
Talking to servants wasn’t considered worship.
It wasn’t worship until Abraham built an altar and offered a sacrifice that he worshipped.
Not all of worship takes place in a church building. When I pray (wherever I am) I am worshipping. When I praise God (wherever I am) I am worshipping God. When I study His word, when I reflect upon His awesome ways I worship. But worship is a deliberate act and choice. It doesn’t just happen. It doesn’t happen without the heart and mind engaged. Worship is planned. Worship is purposed. A person can worship God while sitting in the dentist chair or mowing the yard. The person who is worshipping is thinking about God, he is praying to God, and he is praising the Lord. Without those things all a person is doing is sitting in a dentist chair, or cutting the grass. The intention of his heart is what makes the difference.
Not all of life is worship, nor does the Bible say it should be. There are times we must build relationships with each other. There are times for laughter. There are times to talk with each other. There are times to saddle donkeys and travel. There are times to build altars.
We should give God the glory for what is done. We should be thankful as we walk through life enjoying the blessings of our Father. But we need to understand what worship is and our role in worship.
Roger
August 2007