Exclusivity is a necessity for worship.

For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens. 

Psalm 96:4-5

It seems to me that one element of worship is the celebration of the exclusivity of God. It is what His people have always praised about God. And this psalm unashamedly does so. It compares the mighty power of God to the worthlessness of idols. It calls the beliefs of others worthless. Yep. That's pretty intolerant, wouldn't you say?

The purpose of pointing out the worthless pursuit of idolatry is twofold: 1) it praises the God Who is Maker of all things and 2) it protects our hearts from temptations to idolatry. What we are most prone to do when we are not worshiping God is to worship something else. We were created to wroship. We are finite. And our hearts crave the "greater" since inately we know we are made for eternity. And we will foolishly worship the works of our hands, ascribing value beyond ourselves to them. That is exactly what an idol is.

Exclusivity protects us from sinful idolatry. The minute we stray from an exclusive worship of The Lord, we take away from our understanding of His majesty. And we make created things and man made things false gods. Worship The Lord. Worship Him alone. Only God is worthy. Only God is God. There is no other.