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“Content with beholding His face,
My all to His pleasure resigned;
No changes of season or place
Would make any change in my mind;
While blessed with a sense of his love,
A palace a toy would appear;
And prison would palaces prove,
If Jesus would dwell with me there.”
- John Newton, converted slave trader
In worship we engage ourselves with, dwell upon, and express the greatness, beauty, and goodness of God through thought and
the use of words, rituals, music and symbols. We do this alone as well as in union with God’s people. To worship is
to see God as worthy, to ascribe great worth to him.
If in worship we are met by God himself, our thoughts and words turn to perception and experience of God, who is then really
present to us in some degree of his greatness, beauty, and goodness. This will make for an immediate, dramatic change in our
lives. However, this direct divine encounter is not essential to true worship, as so many believe. This direct encounter may
happen outside worship, as it did with Elijah, Ezekiel, and Paul. Worship is our part, even though it is divinely assisted,
and therefore it can be a discipline for the spiritual life. How can a Christian who seeks to live like Jesus lived ever do
it without worship? Simply, it can’t be done.
Worship must be centered upon Jesus Christ, going through him to God. We fill our minds and hearts with wonder at him –
the detailed actions and words of his earthly life, his trial and death on the cross, his resurrection reality, and his work
as ascended intercessor, and his work as he has given us life back.
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