John 4:23-24 “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

John Piper: “True worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine.”  (see whole quote at end)

My Response-

 

My heart;

Arise!

For Jesus calls,

And yearns for me with jealous love

Grow not weary nor wax dull

All creation tells of his glory above.

 

Be not so rigid, oh my mind

To ruminate on God

Like He were facts I could divide

Or make palpable his mystery

But mind collapse from my own wisdom

Spirit: do reveal God’s secrets unto me.

For what truth of God is unveiled

And my whole being is not indulged by it?

Though I may hear a thousand times his love

My heart’s a tomb ‘till he reveals it.

 

Be not so regimented oh my prayers

For Christ’s newness to my heart should

Burst upon my tongue like a babe

Who can do none but babble and coo and awe

And put forth shakily unsteady feet

That one greater may sweep him up

And lift him where he cannot reach.

 

Imagination: do not lager and drag

As if you need be ashamed or downplayed

Gift of God to me, behold his face

Though blurry see his arms reach for me

And uphold the universe all in one swift motion

While I am gathered up with him in glory

And the brightness of countless dawns

All shine in his eyes.

 

See this- a smile through shards of despair

Though brokenness emanates and marks certain days

But it stretches cross the span of all uncertainties because

I have a saviour not unfamiliar with suffering and pain

And when he died, I died with him

And rose with him to life again.

 

So see this- a shaking hand

Exalting God throughout the night

For his magnificence and splendour

Faithfulness and grandeur

A God who gave his son to save me from

My woeful plight.

 

Shall not my feet begin to dance with fervour

And rush wildly across the floor with vehement rejoicing?

What violence is there in the stomping of feet!

Oh, but feet that do stomp for his glory.

 

Soul, pant after his presence

As the tongue craves water in desert land

Avail thyself to the ecstasy

Of knowing Christ in his supremacy

Highest aim to love him with heart, mind, soul, and strength

Be it sapped all my tendencies to exert myself in other things

But Jesus: you are my all in all

With this breath I breathe for you my King

Be it far from me to bow before another

If I have not Jesus, I will have no other.

 

Whole Quote from John Piper in Desiring God pg.76

“Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full (or half-full) of artifical admirers (like people who write generic anniversary cards for a living).  On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse the discipline of rigorous thought.  But true worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine.  Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of biblical worship.”  Amen.