Emotionalism & A Heart of Worship

I think I have been frustrated lately because I feel stuck between two camps saying opposing things. On one hand, Christians say, don't be lukewarm. You should have a strong faith, not being able to be tossed back and forth by the waves like a child (Eph 4:14). On the other hand, as I begin to fall more in love with Jesus they say, careful that you don't become too emotional or you will run the risk of becoming irrelevant in the culture and unable to relate to other people. Which side should I choose? 

I realized, though, that it does not matter if I listen to one or the other. Will not another voice come along in the future and say, what about _________? Shouldn't this be how you relate to God? Through philosophy, through extreme sacrifice, through _________.... This is best because this is how you can be relevant, mature, wise, strong.... See here, this will be your saving grace! 

But it does not matter what man says--it matters what God says. Yes, maybe man is repeating what God has said, but if we do not weigh it against Scripture, then we will never even know when we are lead astray. So what does God say about what pleases Him? 

Always it begins with what God has said about His Son, Jesus, because we are clothed with Christ (Gal 3:26-27). The Father views us as He views His Son (Rom 3:21-26). He is pleased in us because He is pleased with His Son. Christ is in us and the Father is in Christ, and so we are united with them (with God!) (Col 1:27; John 17:20-26).

And yet, here is the paradox: God, who is already completely pleased in us, is also pleased when we pursue and praise Him with all our heart (Deut; I Sam; I & II Kings; I Chron; Ps 9, 86, 108, 111, 119, etc; Jer; and Col 3:23 just to name a few). So not only does the blood of Jesus cover our sins and wash us white as snow presenting us as right before Him, but the praise and worship of our hearts pleases Him (Heb 12:24; I John 1:7; Isa 1:18). 

Emphasis on the hearts because the Lord focuses on the heart (Heb 4:12-13; II Chron 6:30). When I praise Jesus with my heart, sometimes I get emotional. Sometimes I shout or weep or just am quiet before the Lord. Sometimes when I pray to the Lord, I cry. And when I do those things, sometimes people look at me as if to say, woah, tone it down. But when we get defensive or judgmental of someone becoming passionate about God, we judge them not by what God says about them but about what we say about them. (I have definitely been guilty of this.)

Then arises a question I feel like I have heard but with different wording: But why would anyone want to learn more about Christianity if all the Christians they see are sold out for God in seemingly foolish and weird way? Then nonbelievers won't be able to relate to Christians or vice versa, and we will fall into a category of which many are afraid--the irrelevant Christian. 

First, we are relevant and relate to the world primarily through our love. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres" I Cor 13:4-7. If you have difficulty with philosophy, are music illiterate, and can't cook to save your life, you will still be able to relate/be relevant if you love.

Second, the "irrelevant Christian" label sometimes stems from judging ourselves by the standard of the world, which is really just the desire to gain others' approval. This hit home with me the other day: living to please other people is of this world. It is not of God. Living to love others is of God, but living to appease and make others happy is living as a slave to men and women, something that Jesus came to set us free from (II Cor 10; Rom 6:16-18). 

Then I hear people say, well I just don't relate to God that way. Or that's not my worship style, or I don't like that kind of music, or the service was too long, or he was too ______ when he preached, or any other number of similar statements. Or that's fine for them but that's not for me. Or an especially dangerous one (because it is a blatant judgment of people's hearts): they're just emotional because they're been swept into the moment (and aren't actually praising God). These phrases are warning signs which possibly reveal that we don't believe that it would be "good" or "better" to get to a similar place in our relationship with God. We become complacent in our stage of faith and reject the possibility that the place the Lord might want to bring us is different from the place we think we should be. 

I say this because I continue to find that when my heart is actually right before God and my eyes are fixed on Him, the length of the sermon, the style/genre/time period/volume of the music, the length of the prayer, the reactions or noises of the people around me--or any other technical aspects of my environment--don't matter to me anymore. When I actually praise the Lord with my heart, Keith Green is just as great as Hillsong because my focus isn't on them, it's on Him. Yes, musically I enjoy Laura Hackett more than Amy Grant (and Beyoncé more), but if I have been consistent in prayer and reading the Bible (especially when it's just with the desire to know God more), I can worship Him with all types of music. There is more of Him to fall in love with and He wants more of your heart to fall in love with Him. 

I will leave you with this (after this behemoth of a post) which may be an encouragement to both the parties who say, be careful not to be swept up the moment, and don't you dare condemn our emotions. "If we are 'out of our mind,' as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all that those who live should no longer live themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again" II Cor 5:13-15. And, "'Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth,'" John 4:23-24. We praise the Lord with our hearts for who we know Him to be; heart and mind be not divided.

Apologetic Apology

     I feel sorry for the pain Christians have caused. I cannot deny that men and women (the Lord only knows if they were ever brothers and sisters of this family) have done terrible things claiming the name of Christ. Wars and rapes, abuses of power and nails driven deep have left many children, mothers, and fathers beaten and forgotten. 
     I cannot deny the pain caused by so many people who claim the God of the Bible as the only God. True, some have done it out of ignorance. Many, however, know what the Word says but never care to listen and live it. I think I once heard that the Jews did not make a distinction between knowing and doing. If this is true, then love is not passive.
     I apologize for what others have done to slander the name of Christ, but I apologize first for what I have done to slander the name of Christ. Where there have been judgements coming from myself, others have been wounded, and yet His grace has abounded. His grace has always abounded--much much more than I will ever presently know. That a God who made the heavens and the earth would look upon me with favor...well that is a ridiculous proposition. 
     I know that apologetic words will never be enough to heal wounds, but all I know is that He can heal. Heal the body, heal the mind, heal the heart. It sounds trite because either I am trying to make some non-truth sound incredible or because it is some truth too incredible for our deaf hears to hear without His help. I pray that those I have hurt have gone to Him and that others whom Christians have hurt would likewise run to His arms. 

     I will admit that partly I am saying this as a preface to something I want to ask those who do not believe in the God of the Bible. But I do sincerely apologize for abusive and destructive actions and words from Christians, and I am not merely using such an apology to gain favor long enough to ask a bold question.
     My bold question is fairly simple. I do not know who is reading this so let me say that I am not meaning to assume your intentions by asking this. My question is for people who believe that they look at the world objectively. (Whether objectivity is possible is another question entirely reserved for multiple, lengthy, heart-to-heart, and face-to-face conversations built upon the foundation of relationship and trust.) Here is my question:

Do you give the Bible and the God of the Bible the same grace that you give other religions?

     What I am not asking is, "Why are you so stupid as to believe the Bible is not true?" What I am not saying is that the pain you have received from Christians is not legitimate if the Bible is true. What I am not saying is that I have the answers to all the questions that burn in your heart. What I am not saying is that your doubts or questions are ignorant or irrelevant.
     What am I asking is this. When the Al-Qaeda raids and destroys a Syrian village, the Islamists say that Radical Islam is not true Islam and that Islam is a religion of peace. If you listen (as I do) to the Islamists and believe that Al-Qaeda is not representative of the heart of Islam, do you likewise listen to sorrowful Christians apologizing for Westboro Baptist picketing another soldier's funeral? (True, I am speaking in extremes, but my goal is not to accuse you but to encourage you to search your heart.) Do you give Christianity the same grace you give other religions?
     What I am also asking is what if you there is another side to the coin that you do not yet see? Maybe we are standing on opposite sides of a coin. You see the one side with the life you are living and the experiences you have endured. We stand opposite you and see the other side of the coin. At one time we have seen your side of the coin and sometimes still see it starkly, but now this other side of the coin has changed how we see the first side. 
     If I may draw upon an image from Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark. One of the Nazis gets his hand burned with the inscription from the medallion they need to locate the ark. The information needed to use the medallion to find the location of the ark was (coincidentally) written on the medallion and is now burned into the Nazi's hand. Thus the Nazis build a replica of the medallion and use it to determine the location. 
     Meanwhile Indiana Jones has the real talisman and has the inscription read by a translator. Little do the Nazis know, there are more instructions on the other side of the medallion which change the information on the first side. Thus Indiana is able to find the location of the ark because he knows both sides of the coin.
     All I am saying is this: what if there is another side to this coin we call life? Going back to my original question, I ask you to have the grace to consider that what you think about Christianity may be different than what it actually is. And I ask you (and also my friends who are Christians) to explore what the Bible says about God, not what others may have shown or told you who He is.

About This Blog

This blog is less about myself and more about the words, stories and insights that well up inside of me. I debated starting this blog but find that there are fewer outlets for speaking into others' lives now that I am removed from a college community. Yes, there is the richer opportunity to dive deeper with fewer, and I relish this novel idea while still mourning the bountiful yet sometimes uncomfortable nature of living in close quarters.

I don't consider myself to have wisdom. That being said, I have been told that I have wisdom. But by saying I don't have wisdom, what I mean is this: if I have any knowledge, wisdom, truth, insight, revelation, etc., it is all something that I have received. I have nothing of myself that has not come from either the Lord or others who received such wisdom from the Lord or experience and trials used by the Lord to teach them said wisdom.

"What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" I Corinthians 4:7.

From such, the name for this blog comes. Maybe I will change it at some point, but the title Empty Cups is what I feel like I have to offer. If there is an outpouring of anything--love, knowledge, compassion, discernment--it is He who makes my cup overflow. If His Spirit does not speak through me then no ears will hear, no eyes will see nor mountains be moved. Even in prayer, mountains are moved not by the depth of our prayer but by the strength of our God who made the mountains. When the Lord speaks, the earth melts. How much more will our hearts? But that is a topic for another post.

If you are still reading this, then you have made some kind of connection. Maybe you know me personally or maybe simply something I've said rings true in your heart. Maybe something said here will ring true again. But my prayer is that I would be a dying star, otherwise I might shine so bright as to distract from the only Light this world needs.

I will be upfront that some words I write will be objective, claiming that some things are true and that others are not true. However, I long to fill in the gaps between conviction and claiming by explaining. I don't believe truth is relative but don't please don't stop reading before you understand the Why behind the What. Whether I actually execute it well or not in my own life, I long to listen to others explain their own hearts rather than assume I understand the intentions behind their actions (James 1:19).

So all this is to say here we go. All praise and thanks be to Him if you are encouraged, edified, challenged, or rebuked. May my words only point others to His Word, which remains while mine does not (I Corinthians 1:25).

Thanks friends,
~Bennett

P.S. All references made refer to the Bible unless otherwise noted.