Every once in a while, my wife, Tara, will ask me why I love her. She knows that I love her, but what her soul craves to hear and know more deeply is why I do.
My answer will generally focus on two areas: her character and her behavior. I love her for who she is—her tender heart, her patience, her love for our family, etc.—and I also love her for what she does out of her character—how she parents our kids, how she encourages me, her hard work, etc. Both areas matter. If I only focused on what she does, that would feel utilitarian. But if I focused only on her character, that would feel like it fails to appreciate all that she does. It’s not an either-or, but a both-and.
If I asked you why you love God—why you worship Him—what would you say? I would suggest that the same two areas I just mentioned would apply, along with a third one.
Worship God for What He has Done
If you thumb through the Bible looking for times when God was praised, plenty will center on what He has done for His people. Likewise, when you look for the times when God calls on His people to praise Him, many will again focus on what He has done as a reason. It is good and fitting then to worship God for this reason.
I want to encourage you to step away from this blog post for a few minutes. Take a sheet of paper and a pen and start listing as many things that God has done for you as possible. Think big and small. Think recently and long ago. Think personally and corporately. And as you make that list, let your heart be stirred to worship in light of every item you jot down. And then pause to consider how much more you could have put down but did not.
Worship God for Who He Is
If you were to go back and thumb through your Bible once more, this time looking for times when people worshiped God because of who He is—His character—and the times when He called on people to worship Him for that reason, you will find plenty.
Step away once again. Get a new piece of paper and this time write down as many attributes of God that you can think of. List His names too. By each one, note why that attribute or name is meaningful to you. And once again, as you do, seek to worship God in light of what is on your mind and heart.
Worship God Because You Cannot Not
By this point, I hope you are experiencing the third major reason we are to worship God—we worship Him because we cannot not worship Him. We must worship, just like the rocks, Jesus mentioned in Luke 19:40. It is in this place of necessary worship that we want to be found each day. This is our goal—not to manufacture it, but rather to understand that this is, actually, the natural inclination of our souls. This is why we were created. It is when we must worship that we are most living the reality of who we are.
I pray that a worship-filled heart is the posture of your preparation for teaching each week. I pray that it is the posture of your teaching itself too and that it carried over and captivates your kids and helps drive them to worship our God as well.
We are saved to worship God. All that Christ has done for us in the past and all that He is doing now leads to this one end.” — A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)
A. W. Tozer, Worship: The Reason We Were Created—Collected Insights from A. W. Tozer (Chicago: Moody, 2017) [eBook].
Preschool Tip: As you talk about worship with your preschoolers, it might help to frame it in terms of love more for them. Worshiping God is telling Him and showing Him how much we love Him.
Kids Tip: Consider guiding your kids in a conversation with why they love and worship God. It is likely that most of them will focus on what God has done or does. And, again, while there is nothing wrong with that, help them to connect love and worship to God’s character too.