Many of my favorite worship songs proclaim the attributes of God. We sing that Jesus is Lord of all, that He is King, that He is holy and worthy and many other descriptions found in Scripture. Declarations like this are great – not only do they remind us of Who God is, but we also get to confess that we believe them to be true. It’s also worship because we’re telling God just how wonderful and amazing He is.
Declaring the greatness of God is a great way of worshiping Him (and if you’re trying to worship, it certainly beats out the songs that fixate on how awful we were before Jesus – which is true, but it’s not worship unless we’re trying to worship our own sinfulness). I love it. But sometimes, I wonder if there is more than declaration to worship. After all, someday, everyone will confess that Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:11)
In fact, I wonder sometimes if, while God is happy to hear truth expressed, if sometimes what He wants to hear is a simple “I love You.” Whispered, shouted, remembered – “I love you” is an extremely powerful phrase.
Unless we have the love factor down, declaring God’s attributes is no better than what every tribe and tongue will do eventually. It’s just words admitting the truth. But with love, that truth comes alive. It’s like someone saying, “Now there’s a lovely young lady.” They may just be telling the truth. But if they’re in love with said young lady, the “lovely” isn’t just a truth expressed; it’s powerful and lights up the person because it’s said with delight and dedication and the intent of loving the person under observation.
So when we approach a worship song, we can do so with the intent of speaking the truth. And that’s great. But we can also approach the words with an attitude of love – and suddenly, instead of just being words that anyone would or could say, the song becomes an individual expression of adoration and delight because of the love behind those words.
