The Art of Worship

"Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness" (Psalm 29:2)

Worship is the missing jewel in modern evangelicalism. We're organized; we work; we have our agendas. We have almost everything, but there's one thing that the churches, even the gospel churches, do not have: that is the ability to worship. We are not cultivating the art of worship. It's the one shining gem that is lost to the modern church, and I believe that we ought to search for this until we find it.

I think I ought to talk a little more about what worship is and what it would be like if it were in the church. Well, it's an attitude, a state of mind, a sustained act, subject to degrees of perfection and intensity. As soon as He sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts we say "Abba" and we're worshiping. That's one thing. But it's quite another thing to be worshipers in the full New Testament sense of the word and up to our possibilities.

God wants us to worship Him. He doesn't need us, for He couldn't be a self-sufficient God and need anything or anybody, but He "wants" us. When Adam sinned it was not he who cried, "God, where art Thou?" It was God who cried, "Adam, where art thou?"

~A. W. Tozer~

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Admire Him!

"Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart" (Psalm 37:4)

Admiration is appreciation of the excellency of God. Man is better qualified to appreciate God than any other creature because he was made in His image and is the only creature who was. This admiration for God grows and grows until it fills the heart with wonder and delight.

"In our astonished reverence we confess Thine uncreated loveliness," said the hymn writer. "In our astonished reverence."

The God of the modern evangelical rarely astonishes anybody!  He manages to stay pretty much within the constitution. Never breaks over our bylaws. He's a very well-behaved God and very denominational and very much one of us, and we ask Him to help us when we're in trouble and look to Him to watch over us when we're asleep. The God of the modern evangelical isn't a God I could have much respect for! But when the Holy Spirit shows us God as He is we admire Him to the point of wonder and delight.

O Lord, You're beautiful,
Your face is all I seek,
And when Your eyes are on this child,
Your grace abounds to me.

~A. W. Tozer~