If you rarely talk about God, is He really that important to you? Our words often reveal what we value most. Jesus put it this way: “Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). Do we talk like God is number one? If we did, what would we say?

Worship is not just for Sundays, but it seems easier to keep that focus on the first day of the week. How do we practically worship in everyday life?

First, let’s summarize the meaning of worship.

Wayne Grudem provides a helpful summary for worship: “Worship is the ascription of ultimate worth to God. It is the direct acknowledgment of God’s worth to God himself, expressing in words and actions the praise, adoration, and thanksgiving that are due to him.”1

Warren Wiersbe adds, “Worship is the believer’s response of all that they are–mind, emotions, will, and body–to what God is and says and does. This response has its mystical side in subjective experience and its practical side in objective obedience to God’s revealed will.”2

Worship includes both words and actions. It is more than a feeling, an experience, an environment, or a ritual. Worship is communicating through what we say and what we do that God is most important in our lives. How do we keep God first every day?

1. Start Every Day with God

Is there a better way to make God number one in your life than to spend time with Him first each day?

Jesus did this–He awoke “a great while before day” to pray (Mark 1:35).

David spoke of his personal worship habits: “My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up” (Psalm 5:3).

Later David writes, “O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).

Daniel had a habit of praying in the morning since early in his life (Daniel 6:10).

Some people are just not morning people. But why not begin the day with at least a short time alone with God even if your main time for Bible reading is later? Our habits in what we put first reveal what is most important to us.

2. Banish Addictions

If you habitually go to something other than God for comfort and peace, has that object or activity become an idol that you are worshiping? I am not just talking about addictions to alcohol, smoking, and weed. We may not realize that seemingly harmless habits could actually be a matter of misplaced worship. For example:

Consuming hours bowing over your mobile phone, even when the content is clean.

Allowing food to become an obsession rather than a daily necessity.

Watching nightly TV shows in your home more regularly than having family devotions.

Allowing loyalty to a sports team (as a fan or a player) to take precedent over faithfulness to God and His church.

Obsessing about body image to the point of excesses in exercise or eating habits.

Or even making the godliness of your attitude dependent upon whether you have had your coffee.

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