Why we worship.
Worship seems to be important to God and something that he has ordained. But is it for his benefit?
It seems that God doesn't need anything from us. He doesn't have low self-esteem that can be boosted by our accolades. God has no needs but seems to have a full range of emotions, like us. We were created in his image, as the scripture says. So he can be happy, and he can be sad, he can be angry and exasperated. He can love, and he can hate.
If worship is not for God, then it must be something that we need or that we benefit from. God loves us and does many things for us, and that brings him joy. God has ordained worship for our good.
It could be compared to the Sabbath, another ordinance God established. In fact, it was so important to Him that it was one of the Ten Commandments. It's clear that the religious leaders of Jesus time did not have a true understanding of the reason for the Sabbath. In fact, Jesus was accused of working on the Sabbath, thus breaking the command, because he did miracles and good things for people during it. In correcting the religious leaders and teaching us, He said that man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath for man.
Man needs the Sabbath. And think about all the good things the Sabbath creates. One of the meanings of the Sabbath is rest. We need rest. We need peace. When a whole nation stops working, what are people going to do? They are going to gather, you're going to eat together, you're going to enjoy their families and other people, building strong bonds. They have time to ponder the things of God and worship.
In the same way, I am making a comparison between worship and the Sabbath.
Looking at our motivation for worship, let's first look at reasons God did not intend for us to worship Him, reasons that do not benefit us nor please Him.
Anything that diminishes his love for us is not pleasing to Him. If we worship because we think that we can get on God's good side, getting Him to like us more, do enough that we can be blessed, get Him to forgive us, bless us, and keep us out of hell, isn't that diminishing God's love for us? If anything makes him angry, I would think that would be it. To worship God with the intent of trying to get God to do something good, give us something we need or want, more along the lines of manipulation out of fear? And thinking that He doesn't really want us to have good things?
Respect is good, but being afraid of Him is not.
Approaching God in worship like this is treating him like an idol that you have to appease or like a good luck charm, that you put your hope in. This is evil, not worship.
Jesus taught and tried to convince us that God gives good gifts to his children. That God is a loving father. In one of his teachings, he said, " If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more does your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?
If we approach God out of fear or with the feeling that He is reluctant, then we are accusing Him of not loving us, and we don't have a clear understanding of who He is and of our relationship to Him.
Motives are important. We can do the right thing for the wrong reason, and it means nothing. Doing the right thing is always good, but God is after our hearts, not just our duty.
What is worship? Defined by AI, adoration towards a deity or sacred power. It seems to me that giving honor where honor is due is good and even needed. Honoring our creator puts us in the right position to live in gratitude.
He is our creator and our provider, our healer and defender, the source of all we need. Just the fact that he created us and loves us, and we are his, causes us to be grateful. Isn't knowing that we are loved and desired by another one of our highest needs?
So why did he create us? In the book of Colossians (speaking of Jesus) it says that all things were created through him and for him. In John, it says: But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Abraham was called the friend of God, Moses met with God face to face, David was a man after God's own heart, and Jesus taught us to approach God as Father. All of these things are relational and intimate.
We know that God has no need of anything, but in his desire to express his love, he created children of his own. And we return his love to Him and express his love to others.