Arm Raising

I used to make fun of arm raising in church.  I even made up names such as the light bulb, the touchdown, the catch, depending on your arm orientation. 

 It just seemed weird to me, as well as confronting to watch.  To a degree it was intimidating.  My thinking was that they had some sort of spiritual connection to God that I wasn’t getting.  Therefore there must be something wrong with me.

On the flipside I thought it may just be a show.  A way to get noticed and have the appearances of connecting with God.

It took a while to let all that go.  If it’s just for show then what should I care?  They’re lying to God, not me.  And there was nothing wrong with me by not wanting to raise my hands.  Although I needn’t be anti arm raising.

Louie Giglio made the point at the recent Hillsong Conference that we raise our arms in celebration.  I lift my arms at the football all the time so I obviously know how to raise my arms.  One ought to raise their hands to a powerful lyric or a poignant moment of preaching.  It’s for the one who died so we can have freedom in Christ. 

It’s worthy of raising arms in celebration!!