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Friday, May 27, 2011

Off the Top of My Head

I'm not emotional. I cry am pretty emotional when it comes to dying dog stories, but who isn't? The kind I mean is like crying during church, or lifting my hands because I feel 'spiritual', or weeping while reading about Jesus' suffering. Do you have to be emotional to be a Christian? I don't think so. If I lifted my hands during prayer or said 'amen' during the sermon, I would feel like the Pharisees.

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Matthew 6:5-6

I, for one, would feel like a hypocrite. I don't lift my hands during daily worship, so why do it in church, where everyone could see? Of course, I'm not judging those who do. I think it's wonderful to see people do this.

Your thoughts?

Grace be with you,

Abby :D

3 comments:

Erin said...

I struggle with raising my hands in worship for a different reason - because I tend to be afraid what others will think of me! So for me to raise my hands is an overcoming of the fear of man, and being wholly devoted to praising God... but I don't do it often (enough)! I love the many different ways people praise God - through silence, through dance, through raising their hands, through tears or smiles of joy... it's beautiful how unique He's created all of us! The important thing is that He is being praised, no matter how it is expressed! (unless, of course, like you said, it's to bring attention to the person doing it - but then that's not really Him being praised!) :-)

Abby said...

Very true! I also struggle with this, too. Thanks for sharing.

Meggan said...

Read, "Religious Affections" by Jonathan Edwards. He addresses this very issue. The important thing is that the heart attitude of thankful worship of God is the source for all outward expressions with the desire to please Him only. No matter what the context is, this attitude should always motivate our every act of worship. And every act is worship, of either our holy Creator God or some idol. We should always be thankful and worship God when we consider our unworthiness to obtain so great a salvation, but neither should we pretend to be moved if we're not. Pray for a heart that overflows with gratitude and resists the fear of judgment from others.