PREVIEW: The Father wants worshipers who worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24) In other words, God-pleasing worship is balanced. It honors God with heart (Colossians 3:16 – “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God”). It engages God with the mind (Matthew 22:37 – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”). And it reaches out to God with the body (1 Corinthians 6:20 – “You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies”). That is why you will find various physical expressions of praise throughout Scripture: Singing, shouting, clapping, kneeling, prostrating oneself, dancing, and, yes, quite frequently the raising of hands.
A Journey of Worship // Psalm 134:2
Raising your hands in worship is not a pre-requisite for God-pleasing praise—not necessarily! There is no rule that says, “Thou shalt lift thy hands in worship.” The Father wants worshipers who worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24) In other words, God-pleasing worship must come from the heart and in a way that is congruent with Scripture—authentically.
Yet true worship requires all of us—spirit, mind, and body. Obviously, our heart must reach out to God when we worship him; otherwise, our worship would be nothing more than a heartless ritual (and there is already far too much of that among his people today). God wants not just formulaic expressions of worship; he wants worship to come from the overflow of a loving and grateful heart.
Our mind should be engaged in worship as well. If we park our brains in neutral when we praise, our worship is incomplete—and open to all kinds of weird and wild expressions that sometimes occur among certain groups of believers. To worship in truth means to worship with theological knowledge of the One being worshipped, which is most pleasing to him.
Yet, can we truly worship in spirit and in truth if we don’t engage our entire being? Authentic “spirit and truth” praise must even include physical engagement. Balanced worship honors God with heart (Colossians 3:16 – “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God”), mind (Matthew 22:37 – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”), and body (1 Corinthians 6:20 – “You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies”). That is why you will find various physical expressions of praise throughout Scripture: Singing, shouting, clapping, kneeling, prostrating oneself, dancing, and, yes, quite frequently the raising of hands.
Perhaps you came to Christ in a tradition that expressed worship without physical demonstration. I would encourage you to challenge that assumption. The next time you gather with the body of Christ and the singing starts, try lifting your hands to the Lord. The Apostle Paul, while speaking directly to men but I believe in general should be applied to all believers in the church, wrote, “In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy” (1 Timothy 2:8). So, raise your hands to God in worship. I think you will find it quite freeing. In fact, you may want to practice first in your own private worship time just to get used to the action.
When my children were small, they would often come to me and lift their hands, hoping I would pick them up. Of course, I would. In that moment, they would have yet another indication that I loved them. And, of course, I was delighted to know they loved me, too—with their whole being.
Don’t you think that is true of your Heavenly Father as well?
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