To worship God is to give Him our heart. To receive something from Him is secondary. In fact, God has already given so much to us, and He still continues to give. God is already loving us and caring for us. Therefore, worship should be our response to such grace of God. The essence of worship is to “offer” our heart to God.
During the worship, what counts the most is the heart of worshipers because God looks into the heart. Some of us think ‘our heart’ can be given to God only in ‘serious’ or ‘solemn’ ways. It does not have to be that way, however. Our heart toward God can be expressed in ‘joy’, ‘thankfulness’ and even in ‘freedom’. Our heart can be offered to God in many different ways. But if there is one thing which binds all this together, it would be ‘sincere love’
And if we give our heart to God as such during worship, our heart will rendezvous with the heart of God. When this happens, we may attain enlightenment and a resolution to carry it out. Or we may experience the miracle of the Holy Spirit. Or our hearts may get emotional. We experience these things when we ‘receive the grace of God’, and these things happen when our heart is in contact with the heart of God.
What matters most when giving our hearts to God is where ‘my heart is headed (direction)’, not ‘perfection’. It is important that our heart is moving in the ‘direction’ where we can give our ‘sincere love’ to God. It is important that we put ‘effort’ into opening our hearts to God. Because the grace of God is already given to us, we are destined to enjoy God’s grace by this ‘direction’ and ‘effort’.
Sometimes, those whose hearts are not ready may open up their hearts during the worship. Sometimes, those who do not yet know God may get to know Him during the worship and sermon and open up their hearts. Again, all this can happen because God’s grace is already given to us. Yes, in some aspect our heart is never perfect so we need God to come to us first. However, if we first put our effort into opening up our hearts, this whole experience will be more plentiful. God is always pouring his grace on us. But the reason that we don’t enjoy it is because we don’t open up our hearts to God.
Are you worshiping your God now? In the next Pastor’s column, I want to share with you the worship services that have changed my life.
Following the shepherd…
Pastor JiWon Choi.