A woman with a lovely soprano voice sang the hymn 'Nearer my God to Thee' while making breakfast. The visitor staying remarked how spiritual she was in her everyday duties. She replied: “Oh, that's the hymn I boil the eggs by; three verses for soft and five for hard” Sometimes our praise can be merely functional, or our lips can be moving but our hearts are not worshipping God. As Jesus said: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God. (Matthew 15:8–9, NLT) In contrast, we are to worship 'in Spirit and in truth'. Jesus also said: But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23–24, NLT) We ought to praise and worship God, because he is worthy of our praise: Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. (Revelation 5:13, NLT) You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased. (Revelation 4:11, NLT) Praise and worship should be directed towards God. Praise is not primarily for our benefit, but when we focus our hearts and thoughts on God, we are blessed in turn. We can praise him in a special way at Sunday services each week. But we can worship him through all of our lives in between too. Let's worship God and give him the glory and praise that he deserves, and which is our privilege to give, if we have been reconciled to him by faith in Jesus Christ: Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our maker (Psalm 95:6, NLT) Sing a new song to the LORD! Let the whole earth sing to the LORD! Sing to the LORD; praise his name. Each day proclaim the good news that he saves. (Psalm 96:1–2, NLT)