The Great Commandment says we are to . . . "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength". This leaves no room for anything less than wholehearted worship. An authentic worshipper uses the totality of his being in worship. God is not looking for a partial expression of our worship but a total expression - spirit, mind, soul, and body. We are reminded in Revelation 3 that halfheartedness is actually repulsive to Him.
God thinks differently than us. We tend to believe that a little bit of fervor is better than none, but God indicates in more than one place in Scripture that halfheartedness is worse than coldheartedness. Wholehearted worship reflects wholehearted devotion and love, and halfhearted worship reflects halfhearted devotion.
Greek and Hebrew scholars referring to Romans 12:1 have asked, "Why did God, in describing worship, say to present our 'bodies'? Why didn't He say to present our souls or spirits?" It is because the Hebrews see the body as the container of the soul and spirit. When you give your body, you give your soul and spirit. God wants the whole of us in worship - intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically. Can we get carried away? Of course. Emotion and emotionalism are worlds apart in meaning. Our thoughts must be His thoughts - redeemed thought. May we pray that our church will be filled with worshippers who engage with all they are in worship for His glory and His honor pointing always to Him - not to us! mjm
