How was your worship?
“Worship works from the top down, you might say. In worship we don’t just come to show God our devotion and give him our praise; we are called to worship because in this encounter God (re)makes and molds us top-down.
Worship is the arena in which God recalibrates our hearts, reforms our desires, and re-habituates our loves.
Worship isn’t just something we do; it is where God does something to us. Worship is the heart of discipleship because it is the gymnasium in which God retrains our hearts.”
James K.A. Smith, “You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit”
The worship songs need to align: through the singing God does something to us; in song He retrains our hearts.
“We do not meet to worship (i.e., to experience worship), we aim to worship God.
“Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only”: there is the heart of the matter.In this area, as in so many others, one must not confuse what is central with by-products.
-If you seek peace, you will not find it, if you seek Christ, you will find peace.
-If you seek joy, you will not find it; if you seek Christ, you will find joy.
-If you seek holiness, you will not find it, if you seek Christ, you will find holiness.
-If you seek experience of worship, you will not find them; if you worship the living God, you will experience something of what is reflected in the Psalms.Worship is a transitive verb, and the most important thing about it is the direct object.”
D.A. Carson, “Worship: Adoration and Action.”