I was driving to church for breakfast with the men at Band of Brothers yesterday, and a thought popped into my mind about worship. I normally do my best thinking in the car where it is just me and my Heavenly Father! For whatever reason He put that word in my head. What is worship? Who do you worship?

As I sit at the kitchen table, I wonder if I truly worshiped when I was younger? Did I really understand what it meant to worship? I need to stop and explain, I was brought up in a conservative synagogue, and went to services on a weekly basis where I heard the passages of the Torah (Old Testament) being chanted. I understood what was being chanted, and the Rabbi explained the portion and tried to apply it to life experiences. I chanted the prayers along with those that came, whether it was in the youth service, or as a teenager in the adult services. The main sanctuary was huge, but never filled except for high holidays (Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur). At some point in my life, I stopped opening the prayer-book, as I knew these prayers by heart. Looking back, I realized that I was NOT worshiping, but going through the motions of being there, and doing what I was supposed to do. The sermons never really provoked me to think about God’s word. I was Bar Mitzvah at the age of 13 and continued my Hebrew education for a short time thereafter, still not really learning His word, and how it applies to me and my life.  Which brings me to 9 years ago, when my mother-in-law told us about the church that we are still attending, and asked us (Stacey, my lovely wife) to come. I told Stacey, we will go there once to make her happy. Well, as I stated earlier we are still there 9 years later. Something was there, that I never had before. The people who attended truly were worshiping, they were raising there hands, singing loudly to the Lord. Pastor Marty Berglund preached a great sermon! Please do not ask me what he spoke about that day 9 years ago. The people there had something that I truly wanted!!

OK, bear with me, I am getting back to the topic at hand, which is worship, in case you forgot. I am just taking the long road to the topic. Here is the definition of worship from dictionary.com. reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred. So the question that is begged to be asked is What do you worship? or Who do you worship? I asked this question because some people will worship money, their job, their alcohol, etc. It means placing importance of objects, worldly things above everything else. I have learned that worship is so much more than singing songs or chanting prayers to Him. Worship can be tithing, praying( talking to Him), and other things.

People today tend to place athletes on a pedestal, and when they fall from that pedestal they get angry at that person. So they are worshiping that athlete, which is wrong. Some people worship money, and want to get as much of it as possible. I am not saying that is it wrong to want money, or to like a professional athlete, what I am saying is it is wrong to worship them, and place them above everything else.

In my opinion in order to worship God(our Heavenly Father), we must first know Him, and have a personal relationship with Him. In the New Testament the wisemen went to worship baby Jesus. Matthew 2:2b ” For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him”  The wisemen understood it! Not all religions teach this, about a personal relationship with God. I am not saying that it is wrong, but we should. As a dear friend and brother in Christ said “We all were created Spiritual beings with a built in desire to worship.People today worship what they know, because you can not truly worship what you do not know.  You can not truly worship God unless you know Him.”

I feel that today, I am closer to Him then I was during my formative years. As I have learned I am a work in progress, and my form(s) of worshiping Him(my Heavenly Father) will continue to grow. What are you worshiping? Who do you worship? Think about it and let me know in the comment section. ALL comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you