There is a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious. It is too good to waste on jokes.

Glorious Manipulation

[Lord's Day Meditation for April 19]

I want to greet you on this Lord’s Day in the name of our Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

There has been much criticism of the modern church, and some of it rightly so, in its tendency to manipulate the emotions of the people.  The leaders use slick methods and sinful strategies to produce a desired effect among those in attendance.

However, we do not want to throw out this need to have our emotions manipulated simply because some use it for wicked, selfish motives.  God has not called us together on this Lord’s Day to simply express whatever emotions we happened to be feeling when we woke up this morning.  Neither has He called us together to ignore those feelings and simply go through the motions like good little girls and boys.

No, we gather in the name of our Triune God that our emotions might be brought into line with the reality we believe.  As we sing of our glorious God, our emotions should be manipulated to feel the way we ought to feel in light of His glory.  As we confess our sin before the throne of God and receive His undeserved mercy, our emotions should be manipulated to feel what we should feel about our sin and His grace.

Let us come together today not believing and living according to how we feel.  Let us come feeling and living according to what we believe. 

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