PROSKUNEO

PROSKUNEO is the greek word used in the New Testament (Covenant) for WORSHIP. What's interesting about this word is that it comes from two different words in the Greek that give us "To move towards as if to kiss, and to bow down, lay prostrate or worship." Now, I'm not a student of Greek, but I trust W.E. Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words. So, I'll take his word for it.

I used to think of worship as something that is really stiff and rigid, and had to involve an organ of some kind and a suit and tie. Over the years, I've come to discover worship as a wide variety of things. I've worshiped God jumping up and down, with my hands raised, flat on the floor, silent as a stone, and I've even learned how to worship God to an organ while wearing a suit.

The trouble with me is that I struggle to make it a part of my every day experience. And while studying the very word "worship," I came to understand something very clear. We were created to have relationship with other people, and with God. The very nature of our interaction with people shouldn't be different than our interactions with God. People cry, God cries. When we cry, (hopefully) a friend cries with us. So does God!

When I fell in love with Robin, I wanted to KISS her!

I wouldn't have kissed her without really knowing her. And yet I find myself in places where it's hard to worship God - and it's because there's something about his Character that I'm NOT getting. Worship is an intimate thing. God desires to woo us into that intimate place, not force us or guilt us into it. How horrible would it be if I said to my wife, "Hey, you really need to kiss me right now!" That's not fun.

I think the word Proskuneo really says it all. Worship is a vulnerable thing when we worship in Spirit and Truth. When we come to God as rag-tag and beat up as we are, or whatever state we're in - that we're being honest. No masks, no fluff. No Sunday morning smile (unless it's authentic). That's where God longs to draw us.

When the reality of where we are collides with the truth of who he is, the human heart can not help but be wooed to a place where it so desires to kiss the face of God.