I heard a story once of a woman who entered a Haagen-Dazs store on the Kansas City Plaza for an ice-cream cone. After making her selection, she turned and found herself face to face with Paul Newman, who was in town filming the movie Mr. & Mrs. Bridge. He smiled and said hello. Newman’s blue eyes caught hers and caused her knees to shake.
She somehow managed to pay for her cone, then left the shop, heart pounding. She had been in the same room as Paul Newman! When she gained her composure, she realized she didn’t have her ice-cream cone. She started back into the store to get it and met Newman at the door. “Are you looking for your ice cream?” he asked. She nodded, unable to speak. “You put it in your purse with your change.”
Wow. I guess you could say she was a big fan of Paul Newman. Some might even say that she revered him. We could even go as far as to say she worshiped the ground he walked on!
As funny as it is, this story also saddens me. It is too accurate of an example of how many of us treat our earthly heroes. You may have even treated someone you respect this way. But what about God? When was the last time God made you speechless? When was the last time God quickened your pulse… in worship?
I have heard many express what should or should not be in a worship service. I have been instructed as to what is proper to do in worship. Some say that there are many ways to worship; others say that there is only one way to worship. In my search I’ve found that there are actually two kinds of worship mentioned in the Bible: acceptable and unacceptable.
Isaiah 29:13 reveals unacceptable worship. It is just lip-service. The heart isn’t in it. They don’t feel anything. They just show up and do what they are told. Their fear/ worship is dictated by rules men have made. God despises this worship—thus, it is unacceptable. Acceptable worship, then, must come from the heart. Our emotions must be involved. So, where do we start? Hebrews 12:28 says, “let us off to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” [emphasis mine].
You see, reverence is often missing in our worship. It has been said that we need to bring reverence back into the sanctuary. Yes, we do. God said, “…have reverence for my sanctuary” (Leviticus 19:30). Yet, it seems to me that if we are irreverent in His house, it is because we have a lack of reverence for God, Himself!
Many say that we need to have more reverence during our worship service. I agree. However, if we do not have reverence to begin with, worship cannot happen! We cannot go to church without reverence for God or His sanctuary, and leave saying we have worshipped Him—worship doesn’t happen simply because we sing some songs! We must have reverence before we can even begin to worship.
This is where reverence belongs. This is the part reverence plays. It is the beginning of worship. It is what fuels worship. It ends in acceptable worship. We cannot have worship without it. If we lack worship, it may be because we do not start with reverence. Yes, we need reverence in the sanctuary. Yes, we need reverence in our worship. But what we need most of all is reverence for our God!
I got excited when I learned this. I wanted to know how I could get this reverence in my life so I could pass it on. So, I looked for “7 easy steps to reverence,” or “21 irrefutable laws toward a reverent life,” but I couldn’t find anything. In my search for a quick-fix for reverence, I saw that it cannot be achieved by simply following some rules or learning a few steps. Instead, reverence the result of something happening inside you. If we lack reverence, it is because something else is missing in our heart.
In part 2, we will look at what is missing and how reverence can return to our lives and our worship.