A Heart of Worship: Guiding Your Family to Glorify God

We parents live in a world that constantly pursues our children’s attention. From the moment they wake until the moment their eyes flutter to sleep, they’re bombarded with a constant stream of ideas, media, and peer pressure. We want to protect our kids from the degrading influences of culture and the temptations that falsely promise satisfaction. I suppose we want to be really good “Influence Managers” in their lives, helping them see the dangers AND the blessings in the voices screaming for their attention.

But what if the most powerful way we can manage those influences is by helping our kids learn to worship? Does that seem abstract to you? The truth is, everyone worships something. Well, what does that mean?

It means that our children will give their time, energy, and devotion to whatever they believe will satisfy them. It might be social media “likes,” a video game score, or the approval of friends. One of the major challenges for us as parents is to gently and lovingly guide their hearts away from these temporary, false gods and toward the one true God, the only one worthy of their worship. True worship will bring in its wake, a truly satisfied heart. When our children learn to find their joy and fulfillment in God (a long process), the empty promises of the world typically lose their power.

The Glory and Holiness of God

To worship God, we must first understand who He is—the Bible reveals a God who is both perfectly holy and infinitely glorious.

God’s holiness means He is completely set apart from everything in creation. It means He is different from anything else.

For me, Isaiah 40:25 is one of the best verses in the whole Bible for this: “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One” (ESV). That rhetorical question emphasizes that no one and nothing can be likened to God—He is utterly unique. He is set apart and completely “other.” Holiness in Isaiah is not merely about morality, but about God’s absolute otherness and majesty.

But He IS also pure, without any fault or sin. The prophet Isaiah had a vision of God’s throne room and described it as filled with angels crying out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3). This wasn’t just a simple description; it was a shout of awe and wonder at a God so utterly perfect and magnificent that His very presence makes the room tremble. God is not like us. He’s not a bigger, better version of a human. He is entirely different—in a class all His own.

And from this holiness flows His glory. God’s glory is the visible expression of His majestic character. We see His glory in the beauty of creation, in the love He showers on us, and most perfectly in the person of Jesus Christ.

The reason we are called to worship is not because God is needy and wants our praise, because He doesn’t. He’s already perfect and complete. We’re called to worship because to see God’s holiness and glory is to be drawn to Him. It’s the only reasonable response. When we see Him for who He is, our hearts can’t help but be filled with wonder, and we’re compelled to offer Him “all of us” in joyful submission.

One major purpose of our parenting (and this is hard to do) is to help our children understand and know this magnificent God, to help their hearts be captivated by His holiness and glory.

God’s Call to a Heart of Worship

Worship is not an optional extra for believers; it’s the very foundation of our relationship with God. In Deuteronomy 6, God lays out the foundation for a life of worship, and He makes it clear that this journey starts with us, the parents. He commands, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deu. 6:5).

This command to love and worship God is the prerequisite for all our parenting. In other words, it must come first.

We can’t lead someone to a place we haven’t been. God tells us that His words should be on our hearts first (Deu. 6:6), because it’s out of the overflow of our own hearts that we will be able to teach our children. If we’re trying to teach our children to worship God while our we secretly adore money, a career, or a hobby, they’ll sniff out that contradiction much quicker than you think. It would be like a parent who smokes and then tries to lecture their kid about not smoking. The kids just won’t buy the drama. Honoring God in our own lives is the only way we can become the influence He’s called us to be.

God’s call to worship is comprehensive. He doesn’t want just our Sunday mornings. He wants “all of us,” the “worship in spirit” that Jesus talks about in John 4. This is why Deuteronomy 6 instructs us to diligently teach our children about Him and talk about His commands “when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deu. 6:7). This isn’t about scheduling a required ten-minute devotional time time every day; it’s about making God and His Word the consistent, central part of our family life.

Practical Ways to Cultivate Worship in the Home

How can we practically take God’s call to worship and bring it into our children’s lives?

1. Engage the Heart through Conversation.

You need a clear picture of your children’s hearts, and the best way to do that is to spend time with them. As we go about our day, let’s look for opportunities to have real conversations with them, not simply lectures. Ask good questions. Learn what they’re thinking. Talk about how God’s truth connects to the things they are watching, listening to, and experiencing every day. These opportunities to infuse God’s truth into their lives won’t be available long. The time we spend listening is just as important as the time we spend talking.

2. Saturate the Home with God’s Word.

Deuteronomy 6 also tells us to “Tack” the Word around our house. This is a powerful idea. We should keep God’s Word in front of us, making it a visible part of our home. We can post Scripture verses where we can all see them, whether it’s on the fridge, in a main room, or in our kids’ bedrooms. This creates a stage where God and His Word are honored, showing that He is important to our family. We can also intentionally choose music, books, and media that honor God. These things all serve as positive influences that can counteract the worldly messages our kids see just about every day.

3. Challenge Their Worship.

You can help your children see the dangers of the “worship” temptations they face every day. As the “Influence Manager” in their lives, we can come alongside them and gently challenge them in three key areas:

• Worldliness: Teach your children to be careful about the world’s allures. Addictions, whether to video games, social media, or other things, can rule us and lead us to worship the creation instead of the Creator. We must help them see how their buying habits, their words, and their reactions reveal what they are truly giving their worship to.
• The World’s View of Sex: The sexual revolution of the 60s has swept across our whole planet—what a cheap version of intimacy. We need to have open, honest conversations with our kids, teaching them about the dangers of corrupt sexual activity and the blessed wisdom of sex and intimacy as God created it. We can teach them to guard their hearts.
• Answering their Questions: If we love our children well, we will have a great opportunity to position ourselves as the go-to person when they have tough questions about life and faith. We should be ready to answer why we live the way we live, and why we believe God’s Word is the ultimate authority.

It’s true, we are fighting an uphill battle. Becoming an Influence Manager is ultimately about helping our children learn to love and worship God amidst all the temptations and influences of our world. It’s about remembering that the God who created them loves them more than we do. He has given us His Word and His Spirit to guide us every step of the way.

Your influence if probably greater than you think. May God help us to lead our families in a way that honors and glorifies Him!