I was just talking to my wife about this before we went to bed for the night. I think that sometimes, we find ourselves cutting corners on the worship stage and letting the performance sound like a garage session because it's a ministry, and hey, my heart was in the right place.

But in Leviticus 10, God makes two smoldering holes in the ground out of Nadab and Abihu, who thought they could worship God just any old way with strange fire: worship offered to pagan things. Then Moses says to their father Aaron something to the flavor of (obvious paraphrase), "God just spent the last nine chapters telling us that He is Holy and He will be treated and approached as Holy; He even told us how. Your sons profaned God by bringing the common diety's common offering. Bottom line: God will be honored with or without us." Aaron did the right thing by keeping his mouth shut.

Their hearts were in the right place. They felt right about it. But God said to glorify Him and address Him as Holy, and so He was honored without them. Worship is not an emotional fix. That's the world's flavor these days. Feelings seem to be the ultimate justification for everything these days; as long as our hearts are in the right place, we let things slide and be loose. But despite how we feel, Truth still remains true. No feeling in the world can change what or who Truth is.

That is not to say that we cannot have feeling. Emotions are a response. But it is to say that feeling cannot be the ultimate justification that we bring to the altar to glorify God. Jesus is the ultimate justification, and only through Him can we worship as freely as we do. Anything else is a strange fire. It dances and moves just as much as feelings change to and fro. We cannot stand on a worship stage and use our "state of heart" as a means to excuse sub-par performance. Surely God will be glorified in the end, whether we decide to honor Him or discard our skillful hand in favor of good feelings. But hey. My heart was in the right place.

Thanks for the reference in Leviticus 10. I believe this is also a lesson in obedience. God commanded them to give the burnt offering in a certain manner. They did not. It seems that doing as God commanded is not something to take lightly.

-K

"we find ourselves cutting corners on the worship stage and letting the performance sound like a garage session because it's a ministry, and hey, my heart was in the right place"

seems to me ones heart's not in the right place if that's how one is approaching leading others in worship. the fact that it's ministry leads me to believe that no corners are to be cut & one is to give the very best they have to offer the Lord. If one does not offer their best to the Lord how dare they offer it to someone/something else.