Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God… For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.  Romans 11:33, 36

Where there’s a problem with worship there’s a problem with our experience of Jesus and the good news He conceived. That is why our worship is often hollow: our experience of Jesus has become hollow. As the eyes of our hearts are lowered from the greatness of God to our own failures, accomplishments and problems our worship quickly follows.

A robust experience of Jesus, however, is like pouring gas on the fire of worship. The more powerful our experience Jesus, the more we adore Him for who He is and for what He has done for us. This is because all worship, in the end, is personal worship—it’s about what happening to you. It’s about what happening to me.

Then, together, we can adore Him in a collective setting; where groups of other worshipers come together to proclaim God’s glory together. And in that setting worship is like a wild-fire consuming the hearts of others who are adding their personal worship to the group experience.

That’s what’s so tragic about half-hearted worship (besides the fact that it’s boring). It’s lukewarm. As G. Campbell Morgan said, “Lukewarmness is the worst form of blasphemy. Lukewarmness says, ‘I believe, I’m just not excited about it.’”

In fact, the root word for “enthusiasm” is theos (God). We should be excited—worshiping the Lord with enthusiasm. Consider the Bible passage we looked at earlier in this series: “Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done. (1 Chron 16:10-12) This isn’t just an isolated passage. The Bible is literally packed with similar verses. This must be something God doesn’t want us to forget.

As Christians, we’ve been called to an eternal preoccupation with God and His glory… for who He is, what He’s done, and where He’s done it – in you and me. That’s what fuels worship—how preoccupied are we with God.