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August 2025 Editorial
What comes to mind when you hear the word worship?
For many today, worship has been reduced to a musical experience or an emotional high. In our age of fog machines, LED walls, and influencer-style worship leaders, the gravity and wonder of biblical worship often get lost. But worship is not about mood—it’s about truth. It’s not about what moves us emotionally, but about what exalts God faithfully.
At Theology for Life, we believe worship must be grounded in Scripture, not culture. That’s why this issue focuses on helping Christians rediscover what it means to worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:24). As pressures mount and compromise becomes common, it’s never been more important for believers to stand firm in how we worship—and why we worship the way we do.
We begin this issue by answering the foundational question: What is biblical worship? Before we can discern what’s wrong with modern approaches, we need to recover a clear understanding of worship as defined by God—not shaped by our preferences. From there, we move into a practical discussion on how and why Christians must exercise discernment in the songs they sing. Music is powerful, and the theology in our songs shapes how we view God, the gospel, and the Church.
Next, we turn to one of the most urgent issues of our time: the dangerous theology of Bethel Worship and similar movements.
Finally, we turn to Numbers 9, where God leads His people with a cloud by day and fire by night. In this overlooked passage, we find a powerful lesson about worship discernment: the people didn’t move until God said to move. They didn’t camp based on convenience. They didn’t worship based on emotion. They followed God’s lead. That same posture of obedience and attentiveness is desperately needed today.
This issue of Theology for Life is about more than correcting error—it’s about calling the Church back to joyful reverence. Worship isn’t something we get to customize. It’s something we receive from God’s Word and respond to in faith, with awe and gratitude.
Our prayer is that this issue stirs your heart toward worship that is not only true, but also thoughtful—and that it equips you to lead others to do the same. May we be a people marked by discernment, depth, and devotion as we worship the God who is worthy of it all.
In Christ Alone,
Dave Jenkins
Executive Editor, Theology for Life
Truth in Worship: Discernment, Theology, and the Songs We Sing
Dave Jenkins is happily married to his wife, Sarah. He is a writer, editor, and speaker living in beautiful Southern Oregon. Dave is a lover of Christ, His people, the Church, and sound theology. He serves as the Executive Director of Servants of Grace Ministries, the Executive Editor of Theology for Life Magazine, the Host and Producer of Equipping You in Grace Podcast, and is a contributor to and producer of Contending for the Word. He is the author of The Word Explored: The Problem of Biblical Illiteracy and What To Do About It (House to House, 2021), The Word Matters: Defending Biblical Authority Against the Spirit of the Age (G3 Press, 2022), and Contentment: The Journey of a Lifetime (Theology for Life, 2024). You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, or read his newsletter. Dave loves to spend time with his wife, going to movies, eating at a nice restaurant, or going out for a round of golf with a good friend. He is also a voracious reader, in particular of Reformed theology, and the Puritans. You will often find him when he’s not busy with ministry reading a pile of the latest books from a wide variety of Christian publishers. Dave received his M.A.R. and M.Div through Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.
