If you were to come to my office at work, you would see a drawing hanging up on my bulletin board. It’s no Picasso, but it’s an original artwork of great worth to me. It’s the most precious picture I own because my daughter Annalía drew it. Like any artwork, the value is in who created it, and for me, it’s precious because it’s a gift from my child.
Being a worship leader, sometimes people come up to me after church and say, “Justin, worship was really great today.” I appreciate that, but at the same time, I’m not sure how to take it. “Thanks?” I say, lacking a better response. I guess what perplexes me is what do they mean when they say worship was really great? Does it mean that sometimes the worship isn’t good? Are they talking about the music? What are they talking about?
Here’s what I think. In Romans 12:1, Paul says, “to offer our bodies as living sacrifices.” One thing I think he’s urging us to do is to invest ourselves in a service of worship to God. So, when someone says to me, “worship was really good,” I think what they’re saying is effectively, “I worshiped God today, and you helped me do that. You helped me personally bring a gift to the Lord and invest myself in an expression of worship to my Heavenly Father.” It could be that they had a great experience worshiping and someone who was in the same room may not have. What makes the difference isn’t me, the music I chose, or anything else, the difference was them and their attitude. It was meaningful because they wholeheartedly invested themselves in worshiping God.
When we worship, we are bringing that gift to God. This is part of what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 14. We are bringing a piece of ourselves. My daughter could have bought me a picture to hang in my office, but her picture is worth more to me because it’s an expression from her to me.
Take some time today to read 2 Samuel 24:18-25 and reflect on how David insisted on investing personally in his worship of God. We’ll be talking about this passage in a couple of days, but for now, ask yourself, “What does it mean to be personally invested in worship, and how can I be better at doing this?” Don’t be content with watching other people worship around you. Make worshiping God a personal experience where you are totally invested.
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