The best way of learning adoration is not by talking or writing about it. The best way of learning adoration is to practice it. So ask yourself: How has God revealed Himself to you recently? How has He brought His Word to bear upon your life and situation? What does that show you about Him? Now that you glimpse this little bit of His excellence, take a moment (or an hour) to respond to Him with praise.

The adoration of God is one of the most neglected practices in American evangelicalism. Many evangelicals could not even describe what adoration is. This neglect is unfortunate. Adoration is the most fundamental aspect of biblical religion. It is the goal of both creation and redemption. The practice of adoration should be the center of both the individual Christian life and the corporate life of the church.

What is adoration? Certain synonyms shed light on its meaning. For example, admiration involves enjoying a thing on the ground of its excellence. The difference between admiration and adoration is that adoration includes overtones of devotion to the thing that is being admired.

Another synonym is worship, the act of recognizing the value of a thing. To worship God is to recognize and submit to His supreme value. This is almost the exact meaning of adoration.

Yet another synonym is praise. Arguably, praise is the final stage of adoration, the expression of approval and admiration toward a thing whose value has been recognized. If admiration is the enjoyment of the thing because of its excellence, then praise (as C. S. Lewis noted) completes the enjoyment. Our admiration remains inchoate until it is expressed.

These observations help to explain why thanksgiving and adoration are different activities. Augustine distinguished things that are to be used from things that are to be enjoyed. The giving of thanks is an expression of gratitude, which is always grounded in some benefit received by thankful people. The giving of thanks is connected to utility: we are thankful for things that are useful to us. Praise, however, is an expression of admiration, which is grounded in the excellence of the thing being admired. It is connected, not to utility, but to enjoyment of the thing in itself.

We can admire things for which we are not particularly thankful. Spectators at a sporting event might admire the prowess of an opposing player, even though they are not thankful that he is drubbing their team. Their admiration is grounded in the excellence of the athlete, while their thankfulness (or lack thereof) is grounded in the usefulness of that athlete to one’s own interests.

Of course, we ought to be thankful to God. He is the one who gives us every good and perfect gift. Lack of thankfulness is terrible impiety. It is at the heart of the depravity that the apostle Paul outlines in the first chapter of Romans (see especially verse 21). The directing of thanks to God is obligatory and good. But it is not adoration.

God deserves to be adored, not for what He gives, but for who He is. He would deserve to be adored if He never did anything for us. If, an instant from now, He allowed all humanity to slip into the condemnation that we merit, He would still deserve our adoration. The adoration of God is grounded in His excellence, and His is the only true excellence.

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