“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” — 1 Corinthians 10:31

Worship. What is worship? A cursory overview of the dictionary definition would summarize it as adoration or reverence. Often, we use the word worship in reference to God. If you’ve any exposure to church, then it can be even more narrowed down to a portion of each church service every Sunday morning. Yet, that seems like a hollow shell of what worship was meant to be.

King David knew how to worship God. The outpouring of his heart onto the psalms reveals the depth of his adoration of the Father. It’s as though he understood God in a way that can feel elusive to us now. I want that! I want to see and experience that type of relationship with God. In 2 Samuel 6, David led a procession of praise to God, with singing and dancing before the Lord. Can you even imagine? We have all sorts of parades for things–for Thanksgiving, for Independence Day, for any old reason. Yet, why don’t we celebrate Jesus in the same way? How much more worthy of our praise is He than all of the temporary things around us?! 2 Samuel 6:16 notes that King David was, “leaping and dancing before the LORD.” When was the last time you leapt and danced around your kitchen before the Lord for something wonderful He has accomplished in your life? Or just out of sheer worship for who He is and His personhood? King David did it in the streets, not even in the privacy of his home.

Perhaps there is a lesson for us all in King David’s example. Have we watered down what worship is and relegated it to approximately 15 minutes of praise music on a Sunday morning? In 2025, God and I have implemented a focus on a different spiritual discipline each month. For this month, it has been focused on the discipline of worship. Each week of this month has centered on a different concept of worship. At times, this idea of worship has felt frustrating to me because it IS so elusive and intangible. Yet what God has faithfully and consistently shown me is how intricately linked worship is to my sanctification. Every single thing I do can become an act of worship. What a lifestyle overhaul it can be if we allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify every thing we do!

God has shown me a few things this month as I have tried to cultivate a heart of worship. First, He has shown me that what I set before my eyes matters. Psalm 101:3 states, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless” (ESV). The NKJV says it this way, “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes.” In our culture, this is not an easy thing to do. For me, this means, consider what I watch, what I read, what I listen to, and where I go. I once heard it described as stepping up my sanctification. To worship God with what I watch or read is to allow the Holy Spirit to guide me and to sanctify my choices. I have chosen to no longer watch certain tv shows or movies. I have literally tossed books into the trashcan in order to not set anything wicked before my eyes.

Another thing God has taught me this month concerning the spiritual discipline of worship is that using my words, and not just in singing, can be an act of worship. More than that, it should be an act of worship. Psalm 19:14 makes it clear, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.” This doesn’t mean only during my quiet time in the mornings or at church on Sundays. No, this is an act of worship that I am capable of doing continually throughout my day. It is so easy to let words fly out of our mouths in frustration, annoyance, and anger. If I am choosing to intentionally ensure that my words and my thoughts be centered on Christ, then I can speak life into others and speak praise to God, and this cultivates a lifestyle of worship and sanctification.

Worship can be as simple as eating and drinking. We are instructed to do all to the glory of God, even the most mundane and everyday life-sustaining things we don’t even realize we do. Such as eating and drinking. These simple acts can be consecrated as acts of worship if we are doing them for the glory of God. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God with your body.” When Paul wrote this, it was in the context of fleeing from sexual immorality and how we should honor God in our bodies. Yet whether it is sexual purity, eating, drinking, or any way in which we choose to use our bodies, we do so for the glory of God. As believers, the Holy Spirit indwells us. This means we take Him with us wherever we go, whatever we do, all day long, every single day. With this in mind, how would this change our definition of worship and impact how we choose to live each day?

God decided to step on my toes a bit with this other area of worship–no false gods or idols. To worship God fully and wholly, I must have an undivided heart. David prayed in Psalm 86:11 for an undivided heart to fear God’s name. God makes it clear through Moses in Exodus 20:3, “Do not have other gods besides me.” We like to play the semantics game on this one. In our modern age, we don’t carry around little replicas of gods or place foreign images in our homes. No, our idols and false gods are way more covert and subtle. They creep in the cracked fences. Only when we expose them for what they are, can we walk in freedom and true worship with our lives. False gods can look like success, security, comfort, food, shopping, work, family, friends, career, vacations, possessions, or any other thing that we bow down to other than the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Worship is so much more than a portion of our church services. Worship is a lifestyle. “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship” (Romans 12:1). If we are presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, then this means everything we do can be offered as an act of worship to the Lord. If we make it our aim to please God with our words, our thoughts, our actions, our choices, our interests, our careers, our families, and any other thing we do, we are choosing worship. While this month may be drawing to a close, what God has impressed upon my heart about worship is only the beginning. It is foundational to me for all of the other spiritual disciplines I will study this year. How desperately I want to honor God with all that I am and all that I do. I want to adore Jesus and leap and dance in the streets with joy before Him. He sacrificed His very life to demonstrate His love for me. How easy it should be to offer mine back in worship to Him!