Here is an excerpt from music pastor Bobby Coverston's blog "Crusty Old Worship Leader:"
You and I were made to worship. Meaning God designed us to worship him. It’s quite literally in our DNA.
Trying to evaluate worship is like trying to evaluate breath, or heartbeats, or organ functions. We will worship whether we like it or not. We don’t need a song or any other art form to trigger our breathing (even though art may sometimes be called “breath-taking”). Like breathing, it is an involuntary function that we have limited voluntary control over.
I can control my breathing. I can hold my breath, at least for a while. I can use my diaphragm to force more air to shout and scream. I can use my breath to blow out a candle or clear a fuzzy dandelion. Maybe the question is how am I utilizing this involuntary function? Or maybe whom or what is the candle to my breath and the recipient of this hardwired activity?
So when we say that we can’t worship because the music is too loud, or that we can’t worship to hymns, or that the “worship was really good this morning”, I understand what the culture is saying, but it makes me sad that our definition of worship has become so subjective to our preferences and circumstances. Regardless of what song is playing, how it's played, what the environment is, what day of the week it is or time of day, you and I WILL be worshipping SOMETHING. I can worship even if I don’t like music at all, because worship is not about music, it’s about design.
A.W. Tozer said “What comes to your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you.”
How you answer that will help shape the way you define worship. Trying to answer this used to bring me shame because I knew I was getting it wrong and I wasn’t worshipping well enough, or hard enough, or it wasn’t costing me enough, or it wasn’t genuine enough. I have since tried to live and breathe in answering that question quite simply, “God loves me”.
