3 Reasons Your Worship Experience Might Be Lacking

“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”-John 4:24 (NIV)

In the past year, I have had several conversations with people wondering why their worship experience isn’t working. Some of the phrases shared were: “The music just doesn’t do it for me” or “The Spirit just wasn’t in it” or “I’m just not the singing type”.

In reality, there are many people who possibly have a similar feeling about their worship experience. You might even be one of them.

Through some of the conversations above, I came to the conclusion that there are possibly several reasons people are finding their worship experience to be lacking. Here are the top three, in my opinion, that could cause this feeling:

1)      You Have Made It Too Much About Music: It seems that worshiping God has become limited to the music or songs being played in our congregation. While it is true that music and singing are forms of worship, worship is not limited to these activities. Paul shared with the Colossians, “…whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Col. 3:17; NIV).
In these words we find encouragement to recognize that all things we do is a form of worship and we should treat it that way. Perhaps, if we serve more, we will gain an experience beyond ourselves and understand worship as being a time slot larger than an hour or two in our week.

2)      You Have Made It Too Much About You: When we start to be affected by sound, song choice, worship leader clothing choice, choir style, pianist hairdo or hair-don’t, your looks, etc. we miss the point of worship. Again, to my first point, worship is not just about the experience in church, but it is a part and influences our perspective of worshiping God. We must remember that it is not about us. Sometimes, we get caught up in our own image and neglect the image we are made in. We care too much about others and their view of us which distorts our view of the One whom we are to be worshiping. What would happen if we worked to the best of our ability for the glory of God without comparing ourselves to other people in the workplace? What if we served the least without care of people wondering why we would lower our status to be near the least? What if we raised our hands in church while praising God because we follow His lead and not the lead of our pew neighbor? That is when worship is about God and not you.

3)      You Have Made It Too Complicated: Worship is not complicated. Our life is worship. Everywhere we go should be acknowledged as a holy place. God is calling His people to lift His message and His glory high for all to see. When we smile at someone, worship. When we hug someone in mourning, worship. When we wrap our arms around someone who has been abandoned, worship. Christ said to His followers, in regards to His Father, “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” (Matt. 25:40; NIV). When we go outside of our comfort zone to truly care about other people; that is worship. It is not difficult. It should be a natural thing for a follower of Christ to serve beyond themselves.

Worship is a heavy task. It is a fundamental element of being a follower of Jesus. However, many have lost the true concept of what worship is. When we embrace worship for what it really is, communion with the Father and an act to reveal His glory to the world, then perhaps our worship will not be found lacking. On the contrary, it will be found vibrant and strong, shedding light across the nations to the people longing to experience the majesty of a Savior.

QUESTION: What are ways you find yourself worshiping God?