When the subject is worship, the stakes are high—because worship is what God is all about.
Worship should matter to you simply because it matters to God. And worship matters to God because He knows He’s worthy. I know that doesn’t sound too persuasive in our me-centered culture, but it’s true. Worship doesn’t begin with us. Worship begins and ends with God. And God is worthy of all praise, from all people, for all time.
God is the center of everything that exists. Above all the little gods of earth, He alone is the Creator. Sustainer. Originator. Life Giver. Beauty Maker.
That’s why every glimpse into God’s presence throughout the pages of His Word affirms that God dwells in endless praise.
Notice the angel host of Revelation, never ceasing to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” Never do they stop. Day and night they proclaim Him as central in all Creation. Without pause they are constantly affirming His infinite worth.
The same is true of the skies surrounding us. As the psalmist writes, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” Why? Because that’s what the starry hosts were created to do—day after day they echo back to God and shout at the top of their lungs to anyone else who’s paying attention that He is huge. All-powerful. Glorious. Limitless. They are affirming that the One who imagined their shapes and sizes is beyond our wildest imagination.
And you know what’s really wild? This massive God, who has never known any shortage of worship, wants to be worshiped...by you. Right now.
It’s not that He needs any more worship to be worthy. No, God can’t be more worthy than He already is and always has been. It’s not that God needs our worship—but that He wants it. He wants it because He deserves it. And He commands it because to do so is the most loving thing He can possibly do.
God knows who He is. He knows what He’s worth. And He knows the best thing He can give us is Himself. So in calling us to prize Him above all else, God is both gaining the praise that is rightfully His alone and causing us to gain the greatest treasure we will ever know. God is not an egotist seeking more than He deserves from us. Rather, He is God, choosing, in worship, to reward us with Himself.
DON’T WASTE YOUR WORSHIP
Worship should matter to you because you are and always will be a worshiper. It’s what you do. You can’t help it. You can’t stop it. You can’t live without it. But you can choose where you invest it. You can choose to make your worship count for today and for eternity.
We’re created to worship. That’s why you and I are going to spend our lives declaring the worth of something. As a result, we’ve got to make sure the thing we declare to be of greatest value is really worthy in the long run.
For me, I’ve got to keep making sure that what matters most, matters most to me.
The same is true for you. It’s imperative that you find an object worthy of your affection. It’s essential that you find a God worthy of your life’s devotion.
You only have one life. And you only have one life of worship. You have one brief opportunity in time to declare your allegiance, to unleash your affection, to exalt something or someone above all else.
Don’t waste your worship on some little god, squandering your birthright on idols made only with human imagination. Guard your worship...and carefully evaluate all potential takers.
But valuing God supremely doesn’t mean that we can’t appreciate things of beauty and style, as well. It’s certainly not wrong to deeply love another. Nor is it a sin to really be into your profession or to get amped over a trip to your favorite destination.
Enjoying the things that God has made is not a sin, but when we elevate any of these to the highest place in our hearts, we’ve gone too far and cheated both God and ourselves.
"For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.” PSALMS 96:4-6, NASB
Excerpted from THE AIR I BREATHE. Copyright © 2017 by Louie Giglio. Published by Multnomah, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
Louie Giglio is pastor of Passion City Church and the founder of the Passion movement. Since 1997, Passion has gathered collegiate-aged young people at events across the U.S. and around the world, uniting millions of students in worship, prayer and justice. In addition to the gatherings of Passion Conferences, Giglio and his wife, Shelley, lead the teams at Passion City Church, sixstepsrecords and the Passion Global Institute. Giglio is the author of The Comeback, I Am Not But I Know I Am, and Goliath Must Fall. Louie and Shelley make their home in Atlanta, Georgia. Find more information at www.louiegiglio.com.
The Air I Breathe is Giglio’s passionate call on the lives of believers to allow only God to be elevated to the highest place in their hearts. Giglio reminds readers that whether the object of our affection is the Creator or the created, we all worship something—we must reexamine the things that captivate our hearts and awaken to the reality that there is a battle for our worship every day. For more information, visit www.waterbrookmultnomah.com.