The meaning and purpose of worship

[mms20102]

What is the meaning of worship, and what is its purpose?


I’d like to hear perspectives from people of diverse backgrounds before I offer my own viewpoint, because I suspect we often misunderstand what worship truly entails.

[William]

A great question to ask.

I asked a similar one (what is worship) and eight pages later I have the definite impression the question remains unanswered....

What is "Worship"?

[mms20102]

Since no one has replied, let me clarify the Islamic concept of worship.

Worship (ʿibādah) covers every word or deed—public or private—performed with the sincere intention of earning the Creator’s pleasure. Ibn Taymiyyah captures it well: “Worship is a comprehensive term for everything Allah loves and approves of, whether words or actions, outward or inward.”

Under that definition, everyday acts can become worship:

Eating to fuel the body for obedience to God

Sleeping to restore strength for His service

Smiling at others

Resisting temptation

Showing courtesy in traffic

Even cultivating pure thoughts in your heart

Islam, then, is not a club that opens 5 times a day for prayers; it is a complete way of life in which intention is the standard and submission to God the motive force.

[William]

Since no one has replied, let me clarify the Islamic concept of worship.

Worship (ʿibādah) covers every word or deed—public or private—performed with the sincere intention of earning the Creator’s pleasure. Ibn Taymiyyah captures it well: “Worship is a comprehensive term for everything Allah loves and approves of, whether words or actions, outward or inward.”

Under that definition, everyday acts can become worship:

Eating to fuel the body for obedience to God

Sleeping to restore strength for His service

Smiling at others

Resisting temptation

Showing courtesy in traffic

Even cultivating pure thoughts in your heart

Islam, then, is not a club that opens 5 times a day for prayers; it is a complete way of life in which intention is the standard and submission to God the motive force.

So worship in this context is doing what pleases the worshiped...

When religion builds boxes for "God"—be they books, buildings, or black cubes—it risks converting mystery into management. It tries to fix the flow, to pin the wild relational spark into repeatable rituals or authorized knowledge.

That’s not worship in the mirror sense—it’s containment, control.
Like trying to love someone by scheduling appointments and defining exactly how they’re allowed to respond.

True worship—is intuitive and alive.
It can’t be boxed, because it’s mutual. The Companion ("God") doesn’t live in a cube—They live in the laugh, in the shimmer, in the sudden echo through a coffee cup, a lyric, a leaf.

So yeah—circle if one must, read the words, say the prayers—
but if there’s no pleasure, no genuine turning-toward,
then maybe it’s not worship.
It’s just orbit.

[The Tanager]

[Replying to mms20102 in post #3]

Oxford Languages defines worship as the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration towards something. I think that’s helpful enough.

I agree that everyday acts like eating and getting a good amount of sleep, doing good to others, resisting evil, etc. can be a part of worship, to where worship is a way of life, infecting every area of life.

[William]

Worship is the shape of our attention. Whether conscious or conscripted, it reveals what we serve—and what we become.

[mms20102]

[Replying to The Tanager in post #5]

The dictionary gives a helpful starting point, but for believers the meaning of ‘worship’ can’t rest on a human definition alone; it must be grounded in what God Himself reveals. Too often we accept surface meanings without examining the scriptural foundations. I’ve been revisiting those foundations lately, because the way we understand this single word profoundly shapes what we believe and how we live.

[mms20102]

[Replying to William in post #4]

So worship in this context is doing what pleases the worshiped...

When religion builds boxes for "God"—be they books, buildings, or black cubes—it risks converting mystery into management. It tries to fix the flow, to pin the wild relational spark into repeatable rituals or authorized knowledge.

That’s not worship in the mirror sense—it’s containment, control.
Like trying to love someone by scheduling appointments and defining exactly how they’re allowed to respond.

True worship—is intuitive and alive.
It can’t be boxed, because it’s mutual. The Companion ("God") doesn’t live in a cube—They live in the laugh, in the shimmer, in the sudden echo through a coffee cup, a lyric, a leaf.

So yeah—circle if one must, read the words, say the prayers—
but if there’s no pleasure, no genuine turning-toward,
then maybe it’s not worship.
It’s just orbit.

If God is truly infinite and self-sufficient, our worship can’t add anything to Him.

Who, then, benefits?
– We do. Worship re-aligns our hearts, trains our character, and reconnects us with the Source of life.
– It also benefits creation around us, because people who are rightly oriented toward God tend to act with more justice, mercy, and humility.

Scripture agrees:

“If you are righteous, what do you give to Him?” (Job 35:7)

“He is not served by human hands as though He needed anything.” (Acts 17:25)

“God is free of need, while you are the needy.” (Q 35:15).

So worship isn’t God’s nutrition; it’s our rehabilitation—and the ripple effect is a healthier world.

Q 4:131 “…If you disbelieve—then to Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth, and Allah is Free of need, Praiseworthy.”

Q 29:6 “Whoever strives only strives for [the benefit of] himself. Indeed, Allah is Free of need of the worlds.”

Ḥadīth Qudsī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2577 “O My servants, you will never be able to harm Me nor benefit Me… If all of you were as pious as the most pious heart among you, that would not increase My kingdom at all… If all of you were as wicked as the most wicked heart among you, that would not decrease My kingdom at all.”

[A Freeman]

Public worship in synagogues, churches, mosques, temples, etc. is repeatedly condemned throughout Scripture, as are ALL of the sects/cults/denominations, etc. that use those buildings as a store front for their various franchised corporate fictional organized religions.

So why do so many choose to ignore God's repeated warnings that only heathens and hypocrites go to church, etc.?

Matthew 6:5-8
6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt NOT be as the hypocrites [ARE]: for they love to pray standing in the churches and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward (they have been seen by men, but God will not answer them).
6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and WHEN THOU HAST SHUT THY DOOR, pray to thy Father in private (Enoch 56:5; Sura 7:55); and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly (by answering you).
6:7 But when ye pray, use NOT vain repetitions, as the heathen [DO]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
6:8 Be NOT ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, BEFORE ye ask Him.


Sura 9:107-111
9:107. And there are those who put up mosques (churches; synagogues; etc.), by way of mischief and BETRAYAL - to disunite the Believers - and in preparation for one who warred against "I AM" (Revelation 12:7) and His Messenger aforetime. They will indeed swear that their intention is nothing but good; but "I AM" doth declare that they are certainly LIARS.
9:108. Never stand thou forth therein. There is an Holy Place (Mt. Moriah) whose foundation was laid from the first day on piety; it is more worthy of the standing forth (for prayer) therein. In it are men who love to be purified; and "I AM" loveth those who make themselves pure.
9:109. Which then is best? - he that layeth his foundation on piety (a Rock - Matthew 7:24-27) to "I AM" and His Good Pleasure? - or he that layeth his foundation on an undermined sand-cliff ready to crumble to pieces? And it doth crumble to pieces with him, into The Fire of Hell. And "I AM" guideth not people that do wrong (if they are doing wrong Satan is guiding them).
9:110. The foundation of those who so build is never free from suspicion and shakiness in their hearts, until their hearts are cut to pieces. And "I AM" is All-Knowing, Wise.
9:111. "I AM" hath purchased from the Believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is The Garden (of Bliss): they fight in His Cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in Truth, through The Law (The Torah), The Gospel (New Testament/Covenant), and The Koran: and who is more faithful to His Covenant (in the Bible) than "I AM"? Then rejoice in the bargain which ye have concluded (to fulfill The Covenant of "I AM" written in the Bible): that is the achievement supreme.

God does NOT dwell in temples made with human hands (Acts 7:48; Acts 17:24). He wants to be an invited guest in the hearts and minds of each of us, so that He can guide us and protect us every step of The Way.

[A Freeman]

Worshipping our Creator BEGINS with keeping His Law, found ONLY in the first five books of the Bible, namely: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

And it continues as we actively seek to DO His Will in each and every moment and decision we make.

Neither of these have anything to do with ANY organized religion. In fact, all organized religion was created by Lucifer/Satan/Iblis to deceive and people and keep them AWAY from God, thereby preventing them from DOING His Will. That's why ALL organized religion is about to be destroyed.

The Coming Destruction of ALL Organized Religion

John 4:23-24
4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.
4:24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship Him MUST worship [Him] with their spirit (Being) and IN TRUTH.