The question came from my youngest son, Tanner, one blustery but sunny spring day as we were out on the golf course shortly after I became a Christian.

“If God is so mighty,” he wondered, “why does he need mere humans to worship him? Is it an ego thing? A power trip?”

It was an honest question, not a challenging one, and I’ve spent a lot of time since then pondering a better response. At the time, I knew only this: Scripture tells us God is worthy of all praise and worship and He commands His creation to do so; I also knew in my heart that I desire to give God this well-deserved attention, but how to explain why I feel that way, why I worship? It begins with understanding three concepts.

Worship is in your DNA.

Before you object and shut me down, take a moment to consider what worship is:

“honor given to someone in recognition of their merit; to treat (someone or something) with the reverence and adoration appropriate to a deity”

Oxford Languages

We were created to love Adonai with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might (Deuteronomy 6: 5). If we do not choose to worship God with that innate drive, then our nature will find another object for our affection. God considers this idol worship–giving honor and recognition, reverence and adoration appropriate to Him alone, to someone or something else. We humans, especially modern, Western ones, spend thousands of dollars and hours of our lives giving attention to ourselves, sports (and athletes), politics, entertainment of various mediums, jobs, school, habits, hobbies, and loved ones, etc,. etc. So why does God make such a big deal out of this “completely normal” behavior? Here’s why:

What has your attention has you.

It’s no mystery that what we focus on is what influences us in big and small, obvious and subtle ways. In the gospel account of Matthew, Jesus puts it like this: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (6:21). And if that’s too spiritual for your taste, a more worldly source, Kare Anderson, former Emmy-winning journalist for NBC and for the Wall Street Journal, reveals the following research conclusions in the Harvard Business Review:

“Giving undivided attention is the first and most basic ingredient in any relationship. It is impossible to communicate, much less bond, with someone who can’t or won’t focus on you. At the same time, we often fail to realize how what we focus on comes to control our thoughts, our actions, and indeed, our very lives. . . .

Whatever we focus upon actually wires our neurons.”

hbr.org

Notice a couple things: “It is impossible to communicate, much less bond, with someone who can’t or won’t focus on you.” The God who created us knows that we are incapable of bonding with Him–hearing and following His voice–if we don’t focus on Him. It’s the key ingredient to a healthy relationship. Furthermore, whatever we are giving our attention to is actually wiring our brains.

We cannot ignore the fact that the current collective levels of human anxiety, depression, suicide, violence, and general malaise are higher than at any other point in history, not coincidentally because fewer people than ever are focusing their attention on the right things and are instead replacing the intended object of their worship with all the wrong things. So what’s the right thing?

He alone is worthy.

“The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Philippians 4:5-9

In a world that offers so many distractions, so many potential objects for our affection, God implores us to remain focused on Him. Remember Oxford defined worship as an activity “appropriate to a deity.” When we are obsessed with other humans or ourselves, or anything created with human hands that cannot, at the end of the day, give us what we truly need (the peace of God which surpasses all our understanding), then we are left empty, cold, unsatisfied, and desperately seeking something to make us feel complete. We feel this way because He wired us this way–so we would seek Him, the only who who can make us whole.

We worship God alone because He commands it; He commands it because He alone is able to be all that is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, and excellent. He commands it because we need it.

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”

Psalm 150:6