Are You a Liar?

Are you lying when you sing? When we used to sing the song “Amazing Love” I hated having to sing the closing tag line to the chorus “in all I do, I honor you.” Though most lyrics don’t require this level of dishonesty from the singer, we are always singing songs in worship that articulate sincere expressions of the heart. How can we sing honestly? Clearly our singing must be a reflection of our heart. This quote by John MacArthur identifies the “state of the heart” as the essential element in worship.

Music and liturgy can assist or express a worshiping heart, but they cannot make a non-worshiping heart into a worshiping one. The danger is that they can give a non-worshiping heart the sense of having worshiped. So the crucial factor in worship in the church is not the form of worship, but the state of the hearts of the saints. If our corporate worship isn’t the expression of our individual worshiping lives, it is unacceptable. (John MacArthur, The Ultimate Priority, 104)