A new identity and a new history

In our corporate worship, we sometimes sing this son:

I will give you all my worship,
I will give you all my praise,
You alone I long to worship,
You alone are worthy of my praise!

These words hhave at times bothered me: no one gives God all his worship and all his praise. But as I have sung them in the light of what we have been saying about newness [2 Cor 5:17 and Eph 4:24 stuff], I have seen something else. And that vision has led me more than once to pray aloud before the congregation something like this at the conclusion of the song:

Dear Lord, you know better than we do that, in one sense, these words are not true. We sing them with great religious feeling perhaps, but we don't live them. There are all sorts of things that we love more than we love you. This song condemns us. But there is another sense, gracious Redeemer, in which these words are in fact profoundly true of us. They are true because you have sent your Spirit to live in us - and there is no question but that he loves you this way. We praise you, dear Lord, that you are at work in us and that it is only a matter of time before you finish what you have begun.

(pp. 171-172, Charles Drew, A Journey Worth Taking: Finding Your Purpose in This World <- Recommended reading)