The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. -Isaiah 29:13 (NIV)
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. -Matthew 22:37-38 (NIV)
God is not fooled when your heart isn’t in it for Him, or if it’s in the wrong place.
Following yesterday’s post about Mary and Martha, where Martha let her own busyness be an obstacle to authentic worship, there is an even more sinister detour that can happen if you stay too busy for too long.
You can stop caring, and just go through the motions. You can start singing songs of worship to be seen and heard by others, but not for Him first. You can publicly pray and read your bible to get affirmations and pats on your back.
You start putting presentation first. Remember who else did that? The Pharisees. Jesus didn’t think too much of them.
First and foremost, we were made by Him to worship Him. All else is a distant second.
God wants our authentic, heartfelt worship: heart, soul, and mind. It doesn’t have to be fancy or sophisticated or shiny. It just needs to be real. Let’s do it.
Today’s soundtrack
This satire song is funny, but also biting in identifying people we all know in church who seem to not be there for God first. Take a look.
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