The best kind of worship is from the heart

You don't have to sing well to worship the Lord.

I came in late for the sunday school lesson today. It was all about talents, and using your gifts to worship God. I came in late, thus I only got the second half of the lesson. The first half was presented by Joanna, and she was talking about photography and how she can use it for spiritual purposes. I really would have liked to attend that one, but I was out having breakfast at IHOP.
Then, Joe came in for the second half. He handed out some copies of two songs. He strode over to his keyboard, and began to play. My sunday school class, somewhat timidly, sang along with him. The two songs we sang were, "Heart of Worship" and "God of Wonders".
Joe told us how he'd played those two songs so many times; at least one hundred times. He knew them like the back of his hand. Joe talked about how we need to discipline ourselves. He said he knew the songs so well, his mind was apt to wandering away from the worship itself. This was no problem; he was a master piano player.
But that's not the way we should take it. We should always keep our minds on God while in worship. That's the whole point; to honor God and think only of Him.
Joe plays the piano very well. But was his playing of the piano supposed to give us a demonstration as to how well he can play, or as to how he honors God?
Then Joe gave us a wise peice of advice. He said, "You don't have to sing well to worship the Lord."
Wow. But, the best kind of worship is the worship that's beautiful... right?
Not neccessarily.
That's not to say that God doesn't appreciate beauty. He created it for heaven's sake.
But what God really appreciates is passion. The passion that comes with the honor and glory and praise towards Him. And, as Lindsay Anne demonstrated so well in her blog entry today, "After all, what's "on pitch" to God anyways? A song, if from the heart, is precious to Him no matter what we think it sounds like." (you can catch her blog here.) This is truth.
After we sang the two songs, Joe asked if anyone didn't sing. He asked this to further his point; you don't need to worry about embarrassing yourself by not singing. After all, you don't have to sing well to worship the Lord. But you think, well, what if I sound bad? What if people think I'm rediculous? What if I ruin the song?
Who is the judge as to whether you sound "bad" or not? God. Who is the one with the opinion that matters? God. Who are you singing this song to? God.
You can't ruin a song if you're singing it with all your heart to the Lord. There's no way.

You don't have to sing well to worship the Lord.