3 minute read
Throughout this series, I have been exploring a description of worship by Harold Best in which he argues that everyone is worshiping all the time—even “nones” as I suggested last month. If we accept this premise that everyone worships and, in fact, never stops worshiping, the next question I have is “Why should we choose to worship God?” Why not worship myself, my family, my community, my nation, my favorite hobby, my favorite celebrity, or my favorite politician? It is my conviction that Christianity, through the framework of worship, offers two compelling answers for why we should choose to worship God as revealed in the Christian Bible.
First, I believe we are God’s beloved children who are uniquely created as his image-bearers in perfect connection and harmony with himself. Although a lengthy discussion on evolution is not appropriate here, a key tenet of Christianity is God created the universe and everything in it. This is why Scripture begins, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (NIV). The specifics of how God accomplished this creation is not as important as the fact that he did create life. He designed humans to be different from all other animals, principally creating us in his image to pour out our love and worship back to our Creator. It is literally what we are designed to do. Just as Mozart was a prodigy who seemed to have been uniquely made to produce beautiful music, so humanity is unique among all creation in having been made in God’s image to reflect love and adoration back to our Creator. At the beginning of creation, humanity’s connection with God was complete and pure. His love flowed unhindered to us and our love poured back to him in worship. In this perfect cycle, we never run dry as God continually refills us. What’s more, God pours out more love than we could ever contain so that his love overflows from us into the physical and spiritual world. As the apostle John writes, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). As a child in a healthy home is filled with love that she pours back into her parents, so God fills us with love and we pour it back into our heavenly Father through worship. Truly this is one of the greatest and most beautiful truths of the Christian faith.
Second, I believe worshiping God is what enables humanity to flourish. In his book, The Reason for God, Timothy Keller writes, “Since we were originally created for God’s immediate presence, only before his face will we thrive, flourish and achieve our highest potential” (Page 77). Through our connection to God, people can have a deep relationship that empowers us to be the best we can be. As God’s beloved children, our communities flourish when we are living into our true purpose in right relationship with our Creator. By contrast, Keller asserts that sin is that which is detrimental to human flourishing. When humans turn away from God and his love—severing that most intimate connection with our Creator—our outpouring of worship doesn’t suddenly stop. Misdirected worship is like a frozen water pipe that bursts in the middle of winter and causes damage throughout the home. This water is no longer fulfilling its purpose because it is misdirected into the wrong space. As Best puts it, “Something deeper happened, far down in our being, whereby our entirety was inverted and turned to ruin” (Unceasing Worship, Page 25). Our worship becomes twisted, often turning back into ourselves where it was never intended and creating an environment where our growth is stunted and we fail to live into our truest selves.
For me the natural question to ask next is, “But isn’t love enough? If we are doing our best to love everyone, isn’t that love enough for human flourishing?” It is my sincere belief that the Christian response is our human love is not enough because we are fallen creatures. Due to our brokenness we are incapable of loving people perfectly by ourselves. As it is often quipped “to make mistakes is human.” This inability to avoid errors is why I think that worshiping ourselves, an idol, another human, or anything else but God is inadequate. It is only through the work of Jesus Christ that the indwelling spirit of God can bring us back into right relationship with him and restore our ultimate purpose. It is only when we start receiving God’s love and begin pouring out our worship to him in response that can we fully flourish and become all that God designed humanity to be.
