Some people have been blessed with an extraordinary aptitude for gift giving. They seem to purchase the perfect gift for each person. For the rest of us it is one of the more stressful aspects of the Christmas season. As the giver, our bent is to look at things that we would like, but the best givers know what the receiver, in their heart of hearts, absolutely wants.
Fortunately, God has not left us to guess at what He desires. We are to love Him with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. He is not ambiguous about His heart of hearts, nor about the level of commitment that it requires. We are to give ourselves to Him entirely in our daily living and certainly in our worship.
Unfortunately, it seems that many Christians worship like the self-centered gift giver. The giving is tainted with selfish motives. They approach worship asking the question, “How would I like to give glory to God?” instead of asking, “How does God desire to be worshipped?”
In 2 Kings 17 the Assyrians carried away the northern Kingdom of Israel into exile. Because there were no priests left behind to teach the people the law, and because the occupying Assyrians did not fear the Lord, He sent lions among them. As a result, the king of Assyria sent a priest back to the land. The priest “taught them how they should fear the Lord. But every nation still made gods of its own.” The people worshipped God but mixed it with worship they had learned from the Assyrians.
They also feared the LORD and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. So they feared the LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. (2 Kings 17:32–33)
A few verses later the author clarifies that the most fundamental aspect of serving and worshipping God is that He, and He alone, is to be the recipient. The people, however, were stubborn, doing what they wanted in addition to what God had instructed.
You shall not fear other gods, but you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.” However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner. So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children’s children—as their fathers did, so they do to this day. (2 Kings 17:38b–41)
If you want to give God what He desires then commit wholeheartedly worshipping Him as He instructed and do not add to it. There is not a suggestion box in the back of the church because He told us what He wants in His worship service—prayer, the public reading of Scripture, preaching and singing (along with baptism and the Lord’s Supper). There is not a “2.0” version of worship. There are no improvements to be made or extras to be added.
Worshipping God is our gift to Him so let’s not pollute it by adding personal preferences. We give the right gift when we present to God the very thing He asked for. Let’s engage in worship like gift givers that know for a fact they chose the perfect gift, worshipping Him in spirit and in truth!