Worship and Reverence

Then Moses said to Aaron, " It is what the Lord

spoke, saying, 'By those who come near Me I 

will be treated as holy, and before all the people

I will be honored."

Leviticus 10:3

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.

Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before

Him with joyful singing...Enter His gates

with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise.

Psalm 100:1-2, 4

Italics mine

At the heart of worship and its accompanying praise is the the requirement of reverence.  In fact, reverence is the foundation of true worship; and as we see from the verse above, it is so because it is expected and required by the Lord Himself.  After all, He is the Lord of all creation and should be regarded as such, not in a shallow flippant way, but with the gravitas that He alone deserves. Reverence is the basis of what the Lord considers acceptable worship.

In light of this, how much of what is labeled as praise and worship actually is such?  How much of what is considered praise and worship is acceptable to the Lord?  If there is no accompanying reverence, and if its foundation is not reverence, is it truly praise, is it truly worship?  It is important that what we sing about the Lord and what we sing to the Lord is true, but is also important that it be done with a spirit of reverence, and done in such a way that He is honored as He should be. 

So before we worry about lights, and volume, and set design, and innovation, and creativity, and energy, and being appealing and pleasing to the audience; we should be sure, very sure that what we are doing is pointed at treating the Holy One as holy, and honoring Him in front of all the people, and that our goal is to please Him first and foremost.   If our goal is to please the audience, then is it not the audience that we worship?  

Just a little food for thought.