Worship
The soul’s whole-hearted devotion to God, offered in spirit and in truth.
To worship is to bow the soul before God—to render unto Him the reverence, love, and adoration that belong to the Maker and Redeemer of all things. It is the highest act of which the human spirit is capable, for it turns the whole creature toward his Creator. Worship is not one duty among many; it is the orientation of the entire being toward the living God. The scriptures teach plainly what worship is, to whom it belongs, the forms the Lord has appointed for it, and the spirit in which alone it is accepted.
In Spirit and in Truth
When the Savior spoke with the woman at the well, He lifted worship above the question of mountains and temples and revealed its very heart. True worship is directed to the Father, and it must rise from the spirit and rest upon the truth. It is not a matter of place but of person—not of outward location but of inward reality.
“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. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
The Father Himself seeks such worshippers. Worship, then, is not chiefly something God requires of us for His sake but something He invites for ours—a communion in which the soul is drawn upward into the presence of the One it adores. To worship in spirit is to worship from the inner man; to worship in truth is to worship the God who is, as He has revealed Himself, and not an idol of our own imagining.
Worship Belongs to God Alone
Because worship is the supreme act of the soul, it may be given to none but God. From the heights of Sinai the Lord engraved this law upon the conscience of His people, forbidding every rival and every graven substitute.
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image… Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.”
The Savior Himself confirmed this law in the wilderness, when the tempter offered Him the kingdoms of the world in exchange for a single act of false worship. Jesus answered with the unbending word of God.
“Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”
So jealously is this honor guarded that even the holy angels refuse it. When John fell down to worship at the feet of the heavenly messenger, he was forbidden, for worship is reserved for God and may not be diverted to any creature, however glorious. The angel of Revelation 19:10 commanded, “See thou do it not… worship God,” declaring himself a fellowservant. Whatever steals the heart’s devotion from the Lord—whether idol, angel, possession, or self—is a usurper of the throne that belongs to Him alone.
The Forms the Lord Has Appointed
God has not left His people to guess how He would be worshipped. He has appointed the Sabbath, the sacrament, prayer, and reverence as the channels through which devotion flows. Upon His holy day He bids us gather in the house of prayer, offer our sacraments, and rest from the labors of the world.
“That thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day… for verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High.”
Prayer is the very breath of worship—the soul speaking to its God in the morning, at noonday, and at evening. Amulek taught the Zoramites that worship is not bound to a synagogue but is to be poured out continually, over our fields and flocks, our households and our enemies, and against the power of the adversary.
“Cry unto him for mercy… cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening… let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare.”
And worship is to be offered in reverence—in the bowed posture of a soul that knows it stands before its Maker. The psalmist calls the worshipper not to casual familiarity but to holy awe.
“O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.”
With All the Heart, Not the Lips Alone
The forms of worship are empty vessels unless filled with the substance of a devoted heart. The Lord will not accept the husk of religion without its kernel. Nephi knew his people would one day be scattered, yet he pleaded that they worship with the undivided whole of their being.
“Worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out.”
Against this whole-souled worship the Savior set the hollow religion of the hypocrites, whose lips moved while their hearts stood far off. Such worship, however correct in form, is counted vain before heaven.
“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
Adoration of the Creator and Redeemer
At its summit, worship is the soul’s response to who God is. It is adoration that rises because He is worthy—the Creator who made all things and the Redeemer who bought them again with His blood. In the vision of heaven, the redeemed cast their crowns before the throne and cry aloud the worthiness of the Lord.
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
This is no abstract devotion. When the risen Lord descended to the Nephites and stretched forth His wounded hands, the whole multitude was overcome, and with one accord they bowed themselves to the earth at His feet.
“And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet… and did fall down at the feet of Jesus, and did worship him.”
To behold the Lord truly is to fall down before Him. Worship is the natural overflow of a soul that has seen, even dimly, the glory and the goodness of its God.
The Soul’s Whole Devotion
Gather, then, the whole counsel of the scriptures, and the meaning of worship stands clear. It is directed to the Father, in spirit and in truth. It belongs to God alone, withheld from every idol and even from the holy angels. It flows through the forms He has appointed—the Sabbath kept, the sacrament offered, the knee bent in prayer, the heart bowed in reverence. It must be whole-hearted, never the lips alone while the heart wanders. And it rises as adoration to the Creator who made us and the Redeemer who saved us.
Worship is therefore the soul’s whole-hearted devotion to God—the entire being turned toward its Maker in spirit and in truth, offering Him the love, the reverence, and the adoration that are His by right and His alone. To worship is to give God His proper place in the universe of the heart, and in so doing to find our own. For the soul was made for this, and it is restless until it bows; but when at last it kneels before the Lord its Maker, in spirit and in truth, it has come home.