Louie Giglio : Wired for a Life of Worship, Part 1

by Louie Giglio.

You, my friend…are a worshiper!

There, I said it.

Everyday, all day long, everywhere you go, you worship. It’s what you do. It’s who you are.

So if by chance you have only a few seconds to check out this book, that’s what it’s all about. We all are worshipers, created to bring pleasure and glory to the God who made us.

I don’t know whether or not you consider yourself a “worshiping” kind of person, but you cannot help but worship—-something.

It’s what you were made to do.

Should you for some reason choose not to give God what He desires, you’ll still worship something—exchanging the Creator for something He has created.

Whatever’s Worth Most

Think of it this way: Worship is simply about value. The simplest definition I can give is this: Worship is our response to what we value most.

That’s why worship is that thing we all do. It’s what we’re all about on any given day. Because, worship is about saying, “This person, this thing, this experience (this whatever) is what matters most to me…it’s the thing I put first in my life.”

That “thing” might be a relationship. A dream. Friends. Status. Stuff. A name.  Some kind of pleasure. Whatever name you put on it, this thing or person is what you’ve concluded in your heart is worth most to you. And whatever is worth most to you is—you guessed it—what you worship.

Worship tells us what we value most. As a result, worship determines our actions, becoming the driving force for all we do.

And we’re not just talking about the religious crowd. Christians. The churchgoer among us. Or the youth group attender. We’re talking about everybody on planet earth…a multitude of souls proclaiming with every breath what is worthy of their affection, their attention, their allegiance. Proclaiming with every step what it is they worship.

Some of us attend the church on the corner, professing to worship the Living God above all. Others who rarely step inside the church doors would say worship isn’t a part of their lives because they aren’t “religious.” But everybody has an altar. And every altar has a throne.

So how do you know where and what you worship?

It’s easy. You simply follow the trail of your time, your affection, your energy, your money, and your loyalty. At the end of that trail you’ll find a throne; and whatever, or whomever, is on that throne is what’s of highest value to you. On that throne is what you worship.

Sure, not too many of us walk around saying, “I worship my stuff. I worship my X-Box. I worship this pleasure. I worship her. I worship my body. I worship me!”

But the trail never lies. We may say we value this thing or that thing more than any other, but the volume of our actions speaks louder than our words.

In the end, our worship is more about what we do than what we say.

Excerpted from Wired for a Life of Worship © 2006 by Louie Giglio.  Used by permission of Multnomah Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc.  Excerpt may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of Multnomah Publishers.

Wired: For a Life of Worship  is a student version of the newly revised The Air I Breathe. Wired for a Life of Worship Leader's Guide is also available.

Comments

[Mylene Yulo]

We are from the Philippines. We got hold of your preaching "Awesome God". We were so blessed with it. We shared it to our daughter and she showed it in her cell group meeting. We want to know where you are speaking in Manila? so we can tell some of our family to go and listen to you.
Mylene

[Zach Groover]

Dear Louie,

My name is Zach Groover, you dont know me. I was at Ichthus this year and I was able to hear you speak. I just wanted to let you know that you have changed my life in the very best of ways. You have helped me see that God is here and how amazing he is and how strong he is in people's lives. I am a Senior in high school in Indiana. A while ago i was into drugs, and drinking. I totaled my car. I fell asleep going 70 mph. The paramedics sayed i should have been dead and at least paralyzed from the neck down. All i had was a scrath on my knee. The next day i passed a wooden cross on the side of the road and all i could do was sit there and think how lucky i am to have a being like god to look over me. Your story about Ashley really made me think, I didnt know her, but like you all i could do was cry. I just wanted to say thank you for speaking with all of us there at Ichthus and i hope you get back to me. I would really like to start tlking with you.

wwww.zachgroover1321@yahoo.com

-Zach Groover-