What Makes God So Worthy?

Have you ever stopped to think about what makes God so worthy of worship?

It’s an honest question that can make a difference in your faith. You see, you can’t truly worship God if you don’t know why He is worthy. In fact, the word worship comes from an old English word that basically means worth-ship. Whatever has the highest worth in your life will become your object of worship.

So back to the question…what makes God so worthy of our worship? Is it because He is Creator? Is it because He is powerful? Is it because He is glorious? These are all great answers…and I would agree with them all…but there is something even more abounding than any of these.

Think about it…what is the common thread throughout all the New Testament documents? What is at the center of almost every conversation Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Timothy, Peter, and many others bring the context back to? It’s His love! The love of God through Christ is the topic of almost every point the new testament makes. The love of God that was demonstrated through Jesus changed the known world from then till now. Every new testament author was mesmerized by the love of Christ. They were completely transformed by it. The eye witness John documents this love in one of his writings:

1 John 4:7-10 (NIV)

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Did you get that is verse eight? John said, “God is love.” It’s not just that He has a lot of love…He IS love. We only know what love is because Jesus came to display it. A loving God is a uniquely Christian concept. Most pagan gods were never described as love. They were most typically described as angry, jealous, arrogant, and demanding. When John wrote that God is love this would have been a revolutionary concept to the readers. And we know it resonated because first-century Jesus followers radically lived out this display of love like no others.

The reason most of our hospitals are called St. John, St. Jude, St. Francis, etc…is because the church established them. The medical care origin is rooted in Christ’ love. The reason we even have modern-day charities is because of Christ’ love. Charities were nonexistent in the ancient pagan world. You were either rich or poor, no in between. If it wasn’t for the example of the first-century Jesus followers we wouldn’t even have the love in the world we know today. Christianity is responsible for a world that even knows how to love.

So what makes God so worthy? It’s His love that would cause Him to send His one and only son to earth and make a way for eternal life. A love that would offer salvation to anyone who would believe. Jesus was His love and is our love. When you realize why Christ is worthy you can’t help but worship. It’s the natural overflow of gratitude. Jesus’ faithfulness demands our gratefulness. Not demands it is the sense of a requirement, but rather in the sense of a deep desire. How can we not respond to a love that would save us from ourselves?