Worthship of the Trinity
The following question (and it is not a dumb question) was posed to be about why we are called to worship God:
This
might be a dumb question. I was thinking last night and wanted to ask
members here for a better understanding. Why does God want us to worship
him? I’m asking in good faith because I genuinely want a better
understanding.
My response:
Herein
is what separates Christianity from other religions. If God is in fact a
trinity of persons, the very nature of God is to exist in a perfect
unity of persons. God by His nature is not a totally solitary being. St.
Augustine said that there is God the Father who loves the Son, with the
Holy Spirit is the love the emanates between the Two. One God in Three
Persons, not a solitary impassive inward focused individual deity.
Because
of that Divine nature, God has so much Love within Himself, that He
wishes to share that love with His creation. He does not have to. God
could exist without any need of a creation. He does not need our worship
like humans need, say, food or water to exist or to be fulfilled. God
is fulfilled in Himself, but of his infinite goodness and love, this
over flows to His created. God does not wish His love to be self
contained.
Likewise
neither is the Trinity a polytheism of multiple deities loving and
fighting amongst themselves. A polytheism like Zeus and the gods of
Olympus were basically omnipotent teenagers, interested only in their
own whims and desires. Humans were just occasional playthings for their
entertainment. The Greek gods interacted with humans to satisfy their
own whims, and when humans died, their souls descended past the River
Styx to the netherworld of darkness as zombie like spirits, being of no
further use to the gods. The Trinity, by nature of its Perfect triune
nature is likewise unlike this because God created His creation to share
His love. Not because He gets His kicks as humans as playthings for his
amusement but to share of His very nature of love and goodness.
As
such, what do we means when we say "worship"? Our word comes from the
Old English word weorþ or wyrþ, meaning "value" and "having status,
deserving." It's the same root as the word "worth." Worship is a process
of giving 'worth-ship'-if you will. It is our response to God's
infinite love and call to communion with Him, He as creator, and we as
the created. We give worth to God in His divine nature in partaking in
the life and love of the Trinity.
God
does not need it, but we do. We acknowledge God's worth, and in so
doing, the Love of God is reflected to the dark corners of creation
darkened by sin like a mirror, reflecting the Divine light so that in
the end of time, when all effects of sin have been defeated and God can
again dwell with His people in the New Jerusalem and Eden is reborn.
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