When I thought of worship, I thought of music. Dance. Gyrating. Screams and Shouts and Bobby-pins flying around the altar, as the Pentecostal updo's came shaking down. The reality of worship as a lifestyle had never dawned on my pre-teen mind. As I prayed and researched and contemplated the nuances of this thing called worship I realized something: I am always worshipping. Every single moment of my life is an act of worship. Whether I am deliberating on what to buy in the store, or typing an email to a friend. If I am sitting at my desk in school, playing basketball, or on a date... worship. It is not something I conjure up... I was made to worship, and it's something I can't turn off... worship is the ever-present state of my heart.

Let me explain. We live in a fast-paced consumer culture where advertising grabs our attention and seeks to grab our hearts. "You are unhappy. You need our product. Then you will be fulfilled." This is the message we hear repeated a thousand times a day. "Put your hope in us, and we will fix this area of your life." Something always has our focus. Something always competes for our attention.

Right now I am focused on writing this. Right now you are reading it. You are choosing whether you agree with what I am saying or not. As I sit in this cafe typing, how many things are going on all around me? A guy just spilled coffee all over the table a few feet away and it's dripping all over the floor, as he curses under his breath and sops it up madly with his two free napkins. Hurried waitresses are hustling by... hustling for their tips. They make a living here. Their life is defined by their performance. A stunningly-beautiful blonde girl walks by. The guy cursing at his coffee pauses as she passes... his eyes scan her from top to bottom and meet my eyes as she passes my table. As his brain registers this miniscule moment of time, he realizes that I see into his heart. He lowers his eyes from my gaze, pauses, then proceeds to sop up the coffee. I continue to type.

I am surrounded by worship.

Harold Best says it this way: "We were created continuously outpouring. Note that I did not say we were created to be continuous out-pourers. Nor can I dare imply that we were created to worship. This would suggest that God is an incomplete person whose need for something outside himself (worship) completes his sense of himself. It might not even be safe to say that we were created for worship, because the inference can be drawn that worship is a capacity that can be separated out and eventually relegated to one of several categories of being. I believe it is strategically important, therefore, to say that we were created continuously outpouring—we were created in that condition, at that instant, Imago Dei."

What Harold Best is saying is that all of us are looking for something to aim our hope toward… The world is NOT simply divided between two groups of people: Those who worship and those who don’t. It is divided between people who worship things that will distort their lives, and people who worship the only proper object worthy of the worship of their soul. You are either worshipping the wrong things or you’re worshipping the only One whose worship will not distort your life.

As I think back on the past few minutes here in this cafe, I try to imagine where people were putting their hope. The man who lost His temper at his coffee spillage, then ogled the passing beauty. The worried-eyed waitresses performing for a paycheck. You. Me. Where is our hope?

Maybe our ultimate hope for salvation and life beyond lies in Christ, but according to what true worship is, our hope in EVERY situation must be Christ. Of course that doesn't mean we lie around like piles of gelatin waiting on God to drop manna into our mouths and send cash to our mailboxes. It doesn't mean that the waitress shouldn't be working for a paycheck... but what would happen to that worried look in her eyes and the frantic frenzy of her hurried steps if she knew God was truly in control and that He would provide for her-even if she made a mistake and lost this job tomorrow... because He is the one who gives her the breath in her lungs and the ability to earn an income... and He's the one who gave her the opportunity to earn that income here...and He will continue to provide for her long after she's moved on from this job. Her performance is important, but God is her ultimate source of hope, whether she realizes it or not.

Am I saying that the guy can't feel any emotion when he spills his coffee? No, frustrations come... but our outbursts do betray our hearts and where we put our trust... Did God stop being in control because he spilled his coffee? Did the earth spin off it's axis? Did the world end? Worse things have happened and will happen to this coffee-spilling ogler of women, but his hope in this moment is in his fragile sense of control. His hope may be in having the perfect, unstained outfit and impressing the people he works for, or some potential boss he's going to an interview with. This outburst was not about the coffee. It's about his expectations... it's about all the other layers beneath... Is God his source of hope in this moment or his own perceived sense of control? Is he trusting God for his identity, or is he finding his identity in the eyes of his co-workers and bosses and those who will judge him for his coffee-stains?

Am I judging him for admiring beauty or for pursuing his love interests... of course not! But ask yourself, as he watched her pass, where was he putting his hope? Was he believing that God is good and that He has already made provision for his happiness, or was his unsatisfied soul hungrily lusting for more and more... always dreaming about the next thing out of reach? Did his eyes reveal his heart's ultimate desire? Was that desire submitted to God, or has it taken up residence on the throne of his heart? I don't know... Only he can look inward with the guidance of the Spirit and catch any kind of glimpse at what's going on deep within. I'm just a silent observer.

As you read this, where does your mind go? Where are you putting your hope? What things take up residence in your heart? Whatthings take up a majority of your resources (time, energy and effort)?

Whether we are worshipping our own sexuality and ability to provide for ourselves...

Whether we are worshipping those around us and their approval or what they offer...

Whether we are worshipping our jobs, possessions, relationships, status, or religious performance...

Whether we are worshipping things that distort our lives or the only One who will give our lives meaning...

We are always worshipping.

As Tim Keller says, "True worship isn’t manufacturing something you don’t have already or trying to think of things to say about God and to God… Worship is TRANSFERRING the ultimate value from the things that your heart has already said are ultimate, TO GOD. Every single person has put their hope in something. They say 'If I have THAT, THEN I’ll be ok, Then I’ll know who I am, Then I’ll have meaning or purpose in life, Then I’ll be happy.' Everybody has that. Everybody is living for something... but whatever that thing is, it completely orients your whole life. It can completely control you... This is what worship is. Not just coming and singing songs or praying here and there. Worship is recognizing you ALREADY have ascribed ultimate value to something in your life and worship is the process Redirecting all of your hope and all of your focus and towards God."

Discovering this truth about worship was transformational for me. My walk with God began to change almost overnight. It was like I saw everything with new eyes... like a heavy fog had lifted. Worship wasn't getting something from God, it was giving something to God... not because He needed it, but because I needed Him. Worshiping the one true God is ultimately the most healing thing in your life!

But there is still one remaining danger! I had to ask myself why I was doing it? What was my motivation for worshipping? Why was I trying to redirect my worship from all the false gods in my life to the one true God? Was it self-centered? I was finally beginning to wrap my mind around what worship truly was, but I realized my heart was still in the wrong place. I was still at the center. I wanted to worship God for what I got from it.

It wasn't until I let my heart be overwhelmed by the gospel that worship began to change me forever...

(Part 3 Coming Soon...)

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