It is said of Jacob, in the Old Testament book of Genesis 47:31, that “Israel (Jacob) worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.”

What? He was not in a church service, he was not singing, lifting or clapping his hands, and did not have his eyes closed in some rapturous pose. No, he was just standing there, acknowledging the living God of heaven. We have somehow relegated worship to a certain place and a certain set of actions.

Worship is simply giving God worth proportionate to who he is, and valuing him accordingly.

If we only “worship” in church, we may feel free to live any way we want the rest of the time. Worship must be more than just trying to make up for all the bad stuff we have done.

If worship is valuing God, then we can worship continually. God is Creator; therefore, we can celebrate Him with every breath we breathe and everything we see. God is omnipresent, that is, everywhere all at the same time. Worship is acknowledging him and recognizing he is right there with us all the time.

God is the great lawgiver. He has given us his word so we can know him and honor him in every area of life. We worship God by resisting the temptation to sin. (Sin is any deviation from God’s ordered way for us.)

We think we can hide from God or go places and do things that He will neither see nor find out about. Worship is obedience to Almighty God in the lonely quiet places when we think it really does not matter what we do.

Worship of God is valuing life — ours and others. Every person who ever lived has value before God. Worship is when we value people regardless of who they are or what they do.

Worship is humbling ourselves before almighty God, taking the low road, refusing to call attention to ourselves, but putting our lives in God’s hands, knowing that he will exalt us when he wants to (1 Peter 5:6).

Worship of almighty God is believing on Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God, whom he sent to redeem us from our sin (John 3:16).

Worship of almighty God is proclaiming to everybody we come in contact with who he is and what he has done. If God is really valuable to us, how can we keep what we know of him to ourselves?

Worship is waiting on and for God. We wait on God by trusting him in spite of our circumstances. We wait for God by realizing that he is in control and will soon bring life as we know it to an end, will judge all things, and will institute a complete new order.

Worship is believing what God said, in Isaiah 44:6: “I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.”

We best pay attention (worship). God is, will always be, and He “will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

The Rev. Dan Puckett is a minister with Life Action Ministries.