Blind Spots: What Is Worship?

I mentioned in passing last week that when I used the word “worship,” I did not mean singing songs. There was a reason for that. In today’s vernacular, the word worship means singing, such as: “Let’s worship the Lord now.” Or “We had such a great time of worship.” Or “Wow, the worship today was phenomenal!”

The definition of worship is to attribute worth to something or someone. Thus, we should seriously consider that the common use of the word restricts it only to singing. Is the only time we worship is when we sing?

The Apostle Paul tells us to, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17) He also says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” (Romans 12:1)

In these verses we get the truer sense of worship. We attribute worth to God not with singing alone, but with our entire lives. Everything that we say and do is to be an act of worship. The way in which you love your spouse is to be an act of worship. The way in which you parent is to be an act of worship. The way you conduct yourself at your job or in a volunteer role, is to be an act of worship. By defining worship as just singing, we gut its full meaning and can lead people to believe it is no more than that.

Jesus and his disciples sang hymns and it was an expression of worship. But he made clear that attributing worth to God involved our whole being—heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). I don’t know if it is possible to stop using the word to refer only to singing (it is so ingrained in our thinking), but we definitely need to expand the general understanding of what it means to worship the Lord, and then to do our best to worship him fully.

© Jim Musser 2023 All Scripture references are from the New International Version, 2011.