Emotions vs. Spirituality

When I was in the Young Group, I really struggled with the Praise Singing issue. When I first started repenting, I was all for them. Then I went through a period that I wouldn't participate in Praise Singings. Then I started participating again. I didn't really know where I stood on the issue. But something Rich Mullins said really helped me put things into perspective. (I'm typing this by memory, so it may not be word-for-word, but it's pretty close.)

"A lot of times we think something spiritual is happening and it's merely aesthetics. It always bugs me when at the end of a concert, someone will come up to me and say 'Wow, the Spirit really worked!' And I kinda go, 'How would you know that? It was so noisy in here tonight, how could you tell if the Spirit was working?' 'Well, I was really moved.' Well, that's an emotional thing, that's not a spiritual thing. A spiritual thing is making your bed. A spiritual thing is folding your clothes at the end of the day. A spiritual thing is taking cookies to your neighbor that's shut in, or raking their front yard because they're too old to do it. That's spirituality. Getting a warm oozy feeling about God is an emotional thing. And there's nothing wrong with that. I think there is nothing more practical than real spirituality, but nothing more fun than just a good, heartfelt, emotional experience of God. 'Cause I think emotions are good. They're only dangerous when we come away from an experience in which we were emotionally manipulated and we confuse that with being convicted. I think conviction, there's an emotion that accompanies that, but it certainly goes a lot deeper than just coming away going 'Oh, isn't God neat.' Two different worlds."

So what is Rich saying here? First, he says "A lot of times we think something spiritual is happening and it's merely aesthetics." What does aesthetics mean? Aesthetics refers to your surroundings, what's going on around you. So, a lot of times we think something spiritual is happening and it's simply our environment. Whenever I would leave a Praise Singing, I would leave fired up, full of passion and energy, ready to change the world for Christ. Would I get the same feeling if I were singing a cappella out of the Zions Harp? Probably not. Are the songs in the Zions Harp any less spiritual than the songs we sing around the campfire? Certainly not. But the songs in the Zions Harp don't have the tune, the beat, the guitar. So a lot of times, when I was feeling so spiritual, it was really an emotional thing. But like Rich said, "There's nothing wrong with that...there's nothing more fun than just a good, heartfelt, emotional experience of God." But I think that as Christians, we really need to make sure that we don't let our emotions interfere with our convictions. We need to make sure we can tell the difference between emotions and spirituality. Rich has helped me differentiate. Thanks, Rich.

Make it a great Monday!