When our lives don't match the our worship

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Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglica...Image via Wikipedia
One of the biggest obstacles for many people in worship comes when it’s time to sing a song or a line they don’t fully mean or haven’t fully lived up to.


Lines that declare that we’re ready to sacrifice everything, when giving 10% of our income feels like a harder sacrifice to make than martyrdom.

Songs about God’s glory being our greatest passion, when it’s usually our greatest afterthought.


Some choose not to sing these lines or songs at all. They wouldn’t dare sing something they don’t mean or live. Others sing them, but feel like they’re being hypocritical.


Both of these groups miss an essential truth of worship:
Worship isn’t an assessment of my performance but a statement of my intention.


If I had to completely mean and live every word every time I sang it, I would never sing. Nobody would. Even the men who wrote the Psalms. By still singing, we’re not being hypocritical. We’re training our flesh to submit to our spirit. We’re stating our intentions. We’re saying, “Make this true, Lord. I want my life to catch up to the truth I’m singing.”



  • I want your glory to be my greatest passion.
  • I want to be willing to sacrifice everything for you.



It’d only be hypocritical if we had no intention of living up to these declarations. And consider this: even if you had your act completely together, you’d still be just as unworthy to sing a single syllable. 


But God has commanded you to worship anyways. And that’s because your performance and feelings aren’t the admission price for true worship. Jesus’ blood is.


So continue to sing. Continue to worship. Let the discrepancy between the words you’re singing and the life you’re living be an engine for repentance. Not a cause for shame or silence.

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