Sweet Emotion...

I am taking a class right now, which as required me to read a book entitled "Fool's Gold" by John Macarthur. The man has a passion for God's truth that I am deeply respectful of, he has a reverence for God's holiness that I can only hope to fully grasp at some point in my life...and yet as I'm reading his work about the dangers of watered down preaching in todays church, I can't help but wonder if Mr. Macarthur has ever encountered the wonders of the Holy Spirit, alive and active in our lives today. Tonight I read on as he discusses the dangers of 'emotion' in todays worship of our Lord. He cites over and over again that today we are driven to worship through the skilled and intentional planning of music ministers who deliberately strive to stir emotion within the worship, which is mistakenly taken by the worshiper as 'true worship'. He continues to state that this is a mindless and almost blasphemous attempt to worship God which should be avoided and traded in for the traditional and true worship of hymnals. While I can acknowledge that emtional play can be abused within a worship service or mis-interpreted by a worshiper...Mr. Macarthur, did God not give us these emotions that you so openly disdain? Is love not an emotion? Did Jesus not mourn and weep and grieve? Did He not rejoice and proclaim joy amongst His teaching? Are we not made in the image of God Himself and thus can we not assume that God intended these emotions to be a core function of our daily lives and worship of Him? Who decided that worship of God must be somber and quiet and completely void of anything that merely resembles an emotional response? Is a person stricken by personal trajedy or loss not granted the opportunity to become emotionally broken and thus crawl to the feet of Jesus in 'worship' and to find the peace and comfort we are promised in His Word?
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While I can respect Macarthur and his views in other areas, this is one that I was saddened to read. Our emotions are priceless if placed in the right context. Just because a musician writes a song to a catchy tune, that doesn't follow the exact outline of the early hymnals does not mean they were not inspired by the Spirit of God to write and sing that song in an act of worship - they are putting words of hope and love into a form of worship that the entire world can hear and be touched by and then sing with them to glorify and honor our Lord. What man can honestly determine and decide what is acceptable as an act of Worship? The scripture says that we are to worship with our lives...everything we do is to be an act of worship to God. If He has graced one with the gift of musical talent - in the 21st century, are they to be condemned for creating music in His name even if it doesn't meet doctrinal and scriptural requirements set forth by men who somewhere along the way got the idea that they had a say in the matter? If sung to God from the heart of one who desires to worship Him in that way...well, how dare any man judge what is pleasing to the heart of God.
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While I can understand Macarthurs frustration at the soft and false doctrine infiltrating the church today, I would caution against placing stipulations and boxes on the ability of God to use all avenues of this world and generation to glorify His name. It's all about the heart of the worshipper and to question the validity of ones worship is to make an attempt at being God Himself...it's no different than judging ones state of salvation. With the chaos of this world, with the baggage that so many of us carry into the church and into the pew...what if it takes an emotionally charged worship service to drive us out of ourselves and into the heart of the One we came to worship. Of course there must be balance, one should not assume that they must feel some emotional response to worship God, or equate God with a "feeling". He is so much more than that...we just cannot bury our emotions out of our own fear. True worship is not defined by the kind of music, the words we sing nor the arms we raise. It is defined in the heart of the one who worships, and there is only One who truly knows when He is being praised and glorified with a pure heart.
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Leave the judgement to God Mr. Macarthur...teach His Word honorably, be sound in your doctrine, never be ashamed of the gospel or of our testimony...but please don't underestimate God's ability to use those crazy things we call emotions to stir, convict, and move us to action on His behalf. They are God given, God breathed, why should we think for one second that He wouldn't use what He has given us to glorify Himself in some way? Yes, it's abused, yes it can be misinterpreted and misused. But so can God's own Word, the very Bible has been used improperly and out of context for ages...it has been abused at the pulpit, to push social and political agendas and to justify misaction...and yet we have not retired the good Book, we have not hidden it or deemed it useless. We cannot because it is from Gods own hand...just as we are, and with that our emotions.
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In closing I'll say - be discerning, this is simply an opinion of a girl probably less educated and studied on the topic than most. Read about David as he danced for God, read the Psalms and their passionate pleas and praises to God, read about Jesus and his deep compassion for people...and then decide for yourself.