Learning worship

How do we learn to do what is appropriate when we are in worship? The issue arises when we join a new body of worshipers and their customs are different than we are used to doing. There are several ways that we adjust.

Role model

We can see what others are doing and think to ourselves, "that's what I want to have" and then do that. We use the target of our desire as a role model and it provides an authority to behave in the same way they do. It provides a cultural context and a safe excuse for our conscience in case another person has an issue with it or it just feels awkward to us.

Adviser

We can follow along with a worship leader's advice to do something outside our comfort zone and through hesitant actions start to understand the physical expression of something that has a deeper meaning. After a few repetitions of that activity then we start to have a real belief in the value of the action that peels away the inhibition and reveals a stronger force of how we want to respond to worship.

Inner voice

Or we can find within us our belief that we want to be physically expressed in a particular way. And when we do, we find the peace and certainty that let's us know it's right for us. Maybe it takes gentle steps at first and then becomes a full action later as others get comfortable with a different style of worship than they've seen us do before. But it becomes a natural act that you find no embarrassment in whenever it's the right moment for that honor.

Beware of magic

All these learning styles have alternatives that snatch the glory from God. Grabbing at religious activity only for its beneficial results is pious magic. Magic is any ritual to gain spiritual influence and is at odds with God's desire to see you obediently humble before Him without a delusion of personal power.

When you repeat an incantation or series of actions in order to achieve a desired goal and believe in its efficacy alone, you invite God to mock the altar of your actions. Isaiah mocked the spells and sorceries that profited the false prophets which led to the destruction of Babylon. (Is 47:12-13)

Beware of acting

Doing worshipful actions for effect is how you become a religious actor. And following an adviser's instructions on a proper way to perform worship just to satisfy them can be a way to gain favor in the sight of men as if they were the audience you perform to.

Establishing yourself as a holy supplicant in the theater of the altar is intoxicating. Would you be able to be as worshipful in the back of the group as in front? If your imagination invites you to act inappropriately while deceiving you and all the others that it's a spiritually higher form of worship, you have profaned God for a few minutes of selfish attention.

Worship Him

So, let us come to bring our praise and worship to God in the context of our body of worship leaving all our personal ambitions learned from the world aside. Whether it be pride, attention, power or other unsavory blends of unrighteousness, they will not stir God to listen to us. Let us love God with all our hearts so that we come before Him with complete devotion and purity to worship Him in our spirit with complete honesty. (John 4:24)