Christians regularly do not use the dictionary definitions of praise and worship but invent their own Christianese which has nothing to do with praise and worship and is incoherent gibberish to anyone outside Christianity. Words have meaning. Those meanings are found in a dictionary.
praise (prz) n.
1. Expression of approval, commendation, or admiration.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Praise is about saying or writing something favourable about another person either to them or to another person. Praise to God, when sung or spoken, must therefore state something good about God. If you only state "I love you / I worship you" and do not give a reason for that love / worship in your words then it is not praise at all but worship. Praise is not repeating the CALL to praise "Praise the Lord!". That call is an invitation to praise God understood as "Let us now praise the Lord!". It is followed, in the Psalms for example, by reasons for the praise. "(Let us) Praise the Lord BECAUSE He created the heaven and the earth." What follows "because" is the actual praise. One should then state the praise "God created the heavens an the earth." Too often all I hear in churches and on Christian cds is a call / invitation to praise and no praise actually happens at all. "Let us praise God ... Okay, when are you going to get around to it?"
wor·ship (wûrshp) n.
1. a. The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object.
b. The ceremonies, prayers, or other religious forms by which this love is expressed.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Worship is all about heart attitude / one's spirit. It is an expression of love. It is addressed TO God and is not ABOUT God to some other person. It is expressed in the first and second persons ( I / You ) and not the third person (He / God). I hear very little of this form of music in Christian churches and on Christian cds labelled as "worship" music as most of it is not addressed to God in the first and second person. It is not merely expressed in song although songs may be used. It is also expressed in actions.
