Your acts of worship are acts of sin. (Isaiah 66:3 The Message)
Worship
God’s ways are not our ways. Sometimes we forget that, and therefore get things backwards.
In our human world, we do our jobs, we perform acts of service, and we work hard, causing (we hope) happiness in the recipients of our labors. For instance, I mowed my grandfather’s lawn every week, and I was glad that he was pleased.
But when it comes to our worship, our work is not as perfect as God, in His holiness, demands. We might be surprised to find that our worship often has selfish motivation, follows our own instincts and desires, and is manifested usually in the styles we like, the songs we enjoy, and the sermons that make us feel good. All of those things indicate that even our most devote worship is still tainted by sin.
However, worship that acknowledges and emphasizes the fulness of God’s Grace is exactly the right kind of worship.
If we are worshipping with the goal of making God happy, we will disappoint Him and ourselves. Our actions do not make God happy. Only Christ’s holy actions please God. God is pleased when we lean on Him alone, rest in Him alone, and worship through Him alone.
In fact, as strange as it sounds… we should not worship to please God. Instead, God’s pleasure leads to our true worship.
And God’s pleasure, His favor, His love, and His grace need to be the foundation of all that we do.
Worshipping entirely in Christ is what God loves us to do. Any other kind of worship is not Godly.
The good news is, that our God changes us into worshippers, empowers us as worshipers, and when we fail, God chooses to see Christ worshiping on our place… perfect, pleasing, and fully in Him.
What a blessing worship is.