A person who is ruled by his emotions, who reacts and acts, and makes decisions based upon them, has not matured. The proverb says, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.”[1] Any man, no matter his level of maturity, can take a city by virtue of brute strength. But it is better to rule our own soul. This is what God desires, and we have the ability to bring our soul and emotions into subjection to our will. This is maturity. And then to subject our wills to God; this is spiritual maturity.
“Sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is truth.”[2]
“Those who would worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”[3]
The word of God is truth, and we must worship Him in spirit and in truth; we must worship him according to the precepts he has laid out in the New Testament, from the heart.
Christianity is not an emotional religion, as it were; it is a religion whose very essence deals with knowledge, wisdom, and reason. This is not to say that emotion plays no part – only that it is not the main part.
To seek out an emotional high in worship is to put the cart before the horse; we are there to worship him in spirit (that is, from the heart), according to the ways he has laid out. If we do this, we have done His will. Whatever our emotions then become, flow from a result of this. Attaining an emotional high is not the goal of worship, but it may very well be the result.
If our purpose in coming to worship is to feel good, to “soar with the eagles,” as it were, the whole point has been missed. We come to worship, to worship God. Not to please ourselves. Not to feel good. Not to “gas up the engine.” These may come as a result, but they are not the purpose.[4]
Endnotes
[1] Proverbs 16:32
[2] John 17:17
[3] John 4:24
[4] Now I must say that I enjoy seeing my brothers in Christ when I come for worship, I enjoy the fellowship. It is a high point of the week. But even if I were in a very hermit-like mood, not wishing to see anyone, yet I must still come to worship God.