I must confess that as I sat in church this crisp March morning, somewhere partway through the first point of Pastor Jason’s message, my eyes began to glaze over.  Was I tired? No. Was I bored or disinterested?  Also, no.  You see, Jason said something that I had heard many times over, and yet, something sparked…

“Worship is the idea of ascribing worth to someone or something”

The basic idea or definition of worship as described in most evangelical circles is that worship is us declaring or attributing to God the worth that He is worthy of.  As God is infinitely worthy, He is worth infinite worship.  Now, I think that most people will agree that worship is not just the singing of songs or raising our hands or even just praying.  Rather, we are called to worship with our entire lives, our entire being.

Having heard this all before, I was surprised when my ever active mind took that definition and ran with it.  So, as Jason continued on, my thoughts raced along a track parallel to the central theme of the message.  What in my life am I ascribing worth to?  If there was an honest, objective overview of my life, what would stand out as being worth the most to me?  I obviously know the right answers to what SHOULD be important, but does my life lend evidence to support this?

In our own lives, what are we saying is most important in the way we spend our time, our efforts, our resources?  Do we spend all of our spare time in finding fulfillment in relationships, family, entertainment?  I can say that part of my worship is tithing and yet if I was spending more money on fast food every month than giving, what would you say is worth more to me?  If I say that I worship by serving others and yet am more concerned about my “me” time every evening than getting involved serving my local church, what is my life saying is most important to me?

Now, I am not saying that everything breaks down into an elaborate system of charts and graphs, and if the tithing and serving clocks is at more hours and dollars than fast food and down time then I have this worship thing in the bag.  That’s not really the point.  If that was the end goal then the Pharisees had it down to an art form all those years ago.  Obviously worship is a heart issue.  But still…   What does our life say about what is most important to us deep down in our hearts? 

Click here to listen to the sermon that inspired this post.
{This was first shared this on the worship team blog.}