Worship Echoes

Worship is giving back to God what He first gave to us. 

Worship is giving back to Him the song He first sang into us. 

When my kids want to buy me a gift for Christmas, they ask me for money. They take my money and buy me a gift with my own money and give it back to me. The word for “worship” used in the Bible is the word, “proskuneo.” It means to bow down, to get low. Worship is the great returning to what we were meant to be. Think about this: We came from dust. In the beginning, God reached down to our level and picked up dirt and then pulled us to His level and kissed us with life. Worship is us, getting down on the dirt to what we were made from and He’s there waiting to meet us. Worship is the romance God created in the Garden. It’s returning to His face. 

Our worship echoes into eternity. Have you ever thought about Mary’s (of Bethany) worship? She was the first worship leader of the New covenant…actually her worship started before the new covenant. Read Matthew 26:6-13. Mary’s worship echoed. We’re still talking about it 2022 years later…people read about it all over the globe. One bottle of perfume, that fragrance is still filling the earth. What you give God on this earth, echoes into eternity. Mary’s worship cost something. It was extravagant. It was intentional…she knew what she was doing when she woke up that morning. The Lord was in her home. The fragrance of that bottle filled the room. 

It covered Jesus. 

It covered Mary. 

 That oil stayed on Jesus. He didn’t go home and shower it off. It remained for days…through the moment He prayed in the garden – He smelled her worship. When He was arrested – He smelled her worship. While He was whipped and beaten– He smelled her worship. When He walked carrying His cross through the street – He smelled her worship. When they drove the nails in – He smelled her worship. When He took His last breath – He smelled her worship. 

The perfume Mary gave Him on earth, isn’t found in heaven. There are levels of worship that we can give here on earth that we can never give in eternity…sacrifices of praise we can only give in this span of our short little lives lived here, seeing in part. Psalm 56:8 says that God collects our tears in a bottle. Why??? In this Psalm, David is crying out to God during his capture by the Philistines. Throughout this Psalm, David praises God. He praises God for His character. He declares that he puts his trust in God. He praises God for what He’s promised David, unfulfilled promises. Right in the middle of this Psalm comes this verse about God collecting our tears. WHY?? *There are no tears in heaven. Which means worship expressed through tears -including fear, pain, disappointment – can only be expressed while we’re here on earth. This is costly worship, extravagant, intentional. I imagine that as David wrote this song it’s being sung with a purposed heart in the midst of such anguish. Worship through tears echoes into eternity. It resounds into eternity. 

When we get to see Him face to face, worship won’t be a choice. It will be pouring out of every fiber of our being without the hindrances that come from this world and our flesh suits.  Right now we have a choice…to choose to engage Him or not. To choose to love Him regardless of any circumstance, is the greatest expression we can offer. When Mary poured out her perfume bottle, she was pouring away her wedding dowry. That bottle of expensive perfume could have secured a marriage. Back in those days a woman needed a man in order to be secure in this life. She literally poured out her security in an earthly man for the security of Jesus. She’d never seen eyes like His, a heart like His, hands that work & serve like His. No man compared to Jesus. Mary gave herself to Jesus like He gave Himself for her…a chosen outpouring. We can touch God in a way now that we won’t be able to offer in eternity. We can give Him our life now, our hearts. This is how worship began. 1 John 4:19. We love because He first loves us. God gave us His heart…Scripture says He loved us before the foundations of the world were laid.

Our earthly worship echoes throughout eternity. Earthly worship is a fight...flesh vs spirit, the temporary vs eternal. Today I am thinking about this. Right now I have fears, bad attitudes, insecurities, busy-ness, distractions, time constraints...all kinds of thing that war against my desire to worship like David danced before the Lord, completely abandoned and wrapped up in just God, not self. So many things I have to overcome. Why does worship have to be a choice? When I see Christ in all His fullness there will be no fight within me to love Him, honor Him, obey Him. When I see His love in fullness, His beauty in fullness, His power and mercy in fullness, His creativity...what else will there be to do but return to the dirt on my face before Him? Will I ever stand back up? Oh, to be free from what others think because of who He is! Lord, let the reality of Your Kingdom and Your character invade our worship so that we become extravagant worshipers with praise that echoes throughout eternity. Let people talk about our worship throughout history above any other aspect of our lives.