Are You Touched to the Heart by Sacred Excess or Do You Have a Sneering Heart?

As you read Spurgeon's statement below, think about your church and your own heart.  We are personally very aware of , and have personally experienced, the reality of those truths penned two centuries ago.   Think about this.  Does your church err on the side of decorum?  Does your church stifle the genuine Spirit led joyful expression of praise during corporate worship because of a fear of excess?   Does it disturb you if a brother or a sister were to dare raise their hands in praise to the Lord during the corporate singing of hymns, because, "We don't do that here?"   How sad it is to witness and realize that most care more about what man thinks than what God delights in, as we try to "control" everything with our rules and regulations regarding what is appropriate and what is not, at the expense of true worship.

Perhaps one of the reasons a church doesn't want to move from holding a hymnal to reading the words of that very same hymn on an overhead projection is because, "If their hands are free, who knows what might happen?"   Read the warnings and wise insight of C. H. Spurgeon, who could never be accused of fanaticism, and yet who saw the very same things that I see in the churches today and examine your own heart as it pertains to these things: 

"Our happiness should be demonstrative; chill penury of love often represses the noble flame of joy, and men whisper their praises decorously where a hearty outburst of song would be far more natural. It is to be feared that the church of the present day, through a craving for excessive propriety, is growing too artificial; so that enquirers' cries and believers' shouts would be silenced if they were heard in our assemblies. This may be better than boisterous fanaticism, but there is as much danger in the one direction as the other. For our part, we are touched to the heart by a little sacred excess, and when godly men in their joy over leap the narrow bounds of decorum, we do not, like Michal, Saul's daughter, eye them with a sneering heart."