Tammy Wendling on Adoration & Worship

Adoration & Worship

Tammy Wendling

Adoration and worship; these words excite me. Seriously. Considering each word individually, "adoration" or "worship," my heart beats a little faster, and my spirit rejoices. Put the two words together with an AND; I almost can't type fast enough. 

Merriam Webster, as you might imagine, defines adoration as "the act of adoring." Thanks, Merriam. So what does it mean to adore something or someone? "To worship or honor as a deity or as divine; to regard with loving admiration and devotion; to be very fond of." Yes, yes, and YES! I adore my God! 

As believers, how do we adequately express our adoration for God when all we can tangibly understand is the praise and love we offer for earthly beings and earthly things. We adore things we can touch and feel. It's essential we figure this out. It's important we acknowledge God's eternal love and mercy, His sovereignty over all creation, His omniscience, and his total in-dwelling in every breath we take. Whew - see? It's exciting to come to understand "adoration." We often go to God in prayer with true hearts rejoicing and giving thanks for answered prayers. We plead with repentant hearts. We seek intercession for others. Oh, how God must be pleased in our efforts to communicate with him. It's vital to our personal relationship with our Lord, but my friends, each of those efforts to acknowledge what God has done for us is not adoration. Again, all very important in our spiritual journey, but adoration is not appreciating and giving thanks to God. It's a wide-open opportunity for us to lavish praise for who God is to us. True, unfiltered, unapologetic adoration moves us out of ourselves and what we need from God to connect with the mighty wonder of God. I mean, even in adoring Him, we are yet again gifted! What could be more perfect and beautiful than to get over ourselves and truly connect with God in total adoration?

The time for adoration can be whenever we let go enough of this world to pour out our awe-struck emotion for our creator. While there are no rules to when this should or could be, consider a worship service where believers are POURING out true adoration for our Lord. Yes, both adoration and worship can occur anytime, in any place, but for a moment, imagine a Sunday morning worship setting where every person has come in total adoration and wants to offer it all to the Lord? It gives me chills to consider the energy and excitement! 

About 20 or so years ago, I was lamenting to a friend, a wise gentleman as it turns out. (His first name begins with a G and his last name ends with Blackmon.) Our family was attending a church where worship simply wasn't measuring up to my expectations. After listening for probably too long, my wise friend looked at me and asked, "What do you bring to worship; what's the condition of your heart in worship? What if you considered worship as a time to praise (adore) God instead of what you're 'getting' from it?" Game-changing conversation! So for the last couple of decades of my life, I consider it an honor to walk into a worship setting (inside the church or otherwise) and pour out utter adoration for a magnificent Lord and Savior. I encourage you to give it a try - it's incredibly exciting!

"Give to the Lord the glory due his name! Bring gifts! Enter his presence! Bow down to the Lord in his holy splendor!" 1 Chronicles 16:29 (CEB)

In Adoration of Him,

Tammy