Suppose someone acquired a beautiful estate through marriage to an heiress. If this person constantly said to people, "Oh, come out sometime and see my home," and took all the credit for himself, people would find him obnoxious and would eventually want nothing to do with him. But when the Lord Jesus Christ says, "I want to spread before you My holiness and My glory where you can see it," immediately it becomes the most wonderful thing in all the universe. Here is the exhibition of perfection and in perfection, there cannot be any pride.
In England they speak of the "worshipful" company of silversmiths or the "worshipful" guild of artists. They speak to a judge as "your worship." This common ordinary word is used in its old Anglo-Saxon sense to indicate the recognition of grandeur, nobility and character, or the acknowledgment of goodness, position and power. When we apply the word worship to God, of course, we're speaking in terms of an infinitely higher level. The words worthy and worship come from the same root word. The elders in Revelation said, "Thou art worthy, O Lord ..." In worship of God, we are feasting upon who the Lord is. We are acknowledging Him in a sense of awe, wonder and glorification. This acknowledgment of the supreme wonder of the being of our God is a constant theme in the Book of Revelation.
Many Christians know little about true worship. Oh, I know the newspapers announce that "morning worship" will be held in certain places at certain times every Sunday. But very frequently, morning worship is "morning service" or "morning liturgy" or "morning pass-an-hour-and-a-half at religious exercises." How much of that is real worship? Just as God seeks the lost to be saved, so He seeks believers to worship Him. John 4:23 says, "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth."
You may have lost everything you had so that you must take a small place in a community where you were once a leader. You may have used your last savings and not know where money will come from to buy tomorrow's bread. The Lord Jesus meets you now, just where you are, and says to you, "If you only knew the gift of God. If you only knew all that I am willing to do for you and in you, if you will give Me the chance! I will give you living water that shall be all life to you."
