I think this is an interesting topic that could be discussed on many levels. At the very least, I could see this question applying to many areas of our spiritual walk (i.e Jesus commanding in Luke 10:27, "Love the Lord your God with all your HEART and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your MIND.") After all, God created both our hearts and minds and expect us to worship with both. This is why we know from John 4:23 that the type of worshipers the Father seeks are those who worship in Spirit and in truth.) I believe by not worshiping with one or the other is robbing God of true worship. Frankly, our desire should be to hunger in worshiping Him more in every aspect rather than choosing what part we will give Him.

With that being said, I think there are consequences for us when we limit our worship. When we choose to worship only with the mind, we can suppress our emotions. Namely, our joy in expressing the salvation we have received through Him and our thankfulness in the sacrifice that He gave in order for us to receive it. God is not moved by false or stagnant worship, and I believe the more we worship without giving our hearts completely, the further away we are drawn from our desire to make pleasing Him our goal.

On the other hand, when we are driven solely by our emotions, we never fully grasp the true meaning of worship that God wants for us to understand. Just as the Hebrews writer admonished in reference to spiritual development, so can we remain on milk when we should be on solid food when we rely on human emotion to guide our worship. One of the biggest dangers in using our hearts and not our minds in worship is that very soon worship can become about US. "I didn't like the songs we sang today...they weren't very moving." Pretty soon, your heart becomes about what YOU got out of worship rather than what you gave to God. Next thing you know, you're singing "All of Self and None of Thee" for all four verses.

Just a few thoughts!

i think you have to have both the heart and mind to worship the Lord cause with our minds we have knowledge of/about God and with our hearts in which the Holy Spirit speaks, we have testimony that He is present in our lives. Without these things we cannot truly worship God. Otherwise, we are just faking it. Other peoples might be fooled, and we can even deceive ourselves the Bible says, but we cannot fool God.

tim magill
kansas city, ks

I found myself reading Paul's words from 1 Corinthians 14 at lunch today:

"For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind."

It seems if you are worshipping with the heart but not the mind, you might as well be worshipping in a tongue that neither you nor others understand.

If you are worshipping with the mind but not the heart, you might as well be a robot.

Worship without the heart is passionless...it lacks joy and thankfulness. Worship without the mind is spineless...it lacks truth and understanding. Either extreme may indeed be a mile wide, but it is only an inch deep. As was mentioned, God wants your heart, soul, strength and mind. That's where depth of worship comes from.