Authentic Worship

AJ Heil | 1:00 PM

As with many people, and many men especially, my singing voice is anything but eloquent and refined. Undoubtedly, I do not lavish those around me with skilled singing and expressive vocal proficiency, but I do desire to be genuinely engaged in worship through singing.  


This is where the problem comes into play.  Many times when singing songs of worship (during a Sunday morning service, CRU large group, or spontaneously in other settings), I become distracted and caught up in trying to make my singing sound good, or at least not bad, to those around me.  

Outside of corporate worship, it's often that I hear "Christians" critiquing the qualities and sound of the worship leaders and the people surrounding them during that time.  With this reinforcement, but not because of it, I become focused more and more on my voice and my singing rather than Him.  I don't want to be the oddball that people talk about after the service.  "Oh my goodness, did you hear Logan belting it during 'Our God'?"  

Even more-so, I don't want to care about being considered the oddball if is compromises me giving sincere praise and honor to God.   

This is my battle at times, and I'm sure that many of you share in it.  While I have been able to combat it fairly well, struggles still exist....  So what's the solution? 
I would argue that it all comes down to this:  

Falling deeply in love with Christ and His beauty and 
becoming less and less in love of the things of this world.  

These are not two mutually exclusive concepts; no, they are directly intertwined and connected. To become less focused on the world and what it has to offer, we must become more focused on Christ and what He has provided us with.  In the same way, to become less focused on what others think of our voice, singing, and worship, we must become more focused on Christ and his supreme worth and glory.  Through this, we will become less and less concerned with how others view us, and more and more concerned with how we can honor Christ more fully through the lives that He has given us. 


 

Worship is not about me...  
And it's not about us.........  
      It's about Him.


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Thoughts?  Comments?
Do you see similar struggles in your life?
How do you keep worship intensely focused on Christ?




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2 responses to "Authentic Worship"

  1. Anonymous | November 10, 2011 at 8:45 PM says:

    Wow, AJ, I have a lot of thoughts on this one. I totally agree with you, for starters.
    Being involved in music most of my life and on a worship team and feeling the way you do as I sing corporately, I have to say, that the most beautiful sound is a voice lifted unabashedly and unselfconsciously to the Lord because praising Him for who He is and what He has done for them is all they are focused on.
    I think when others see and hear praise like this, it is beautiful to their ears, if they have hearts for Jesus.
    Christ desires our authentic worship out of a pure heart and reverent awe for Him.
    This is a beautiful thing and....BEAUTIFUL MUSIC.
    :)
    memore

  2. Anonymous | December 31, 2011 at 6:32 AM says:

    The singing voice Jesus hears doesn't come from our mouths but our hearts. -brianW

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