In Isaiah 29:13-14, (New Living Translation used throughout this article) And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote. Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites with amazing wonders. The wisdom of the wise will pass away, and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.”
I am wondering where our hearts are as Christians this evening. Are we set on attending super star churches, only learning of the pastor and not studying the Word of God for ourselves? Are we mostly into the professional choirs and worship leaders? Are our pastors and worship leaders encouraging us to go home and study for ourselves, searching out the Lord, and living our salvation? I enjoy a funny, witty speaker with great thoughts as well as enthusiastic and moving music. But, I have to ask myself if that is all my life in Christ is? What about Philippians 2:12-13? Paul is writing to the church of Philippi which he started, in Macedonia..."Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.” I find that working hard to not just honor Christ with my lips is a part of continual study and meditation in His Word, and intentionally living as His word directs. If God is working in me and giving me the will and the power to do what pleases Him, I definitely have a respectful responsibility to learn of Him. Part of that responsibility is to attend a church where the truth is taught over entertainment and the music is genuine and inspired of the Holy Spirit. But even more, I am responsible to live a deliberately holy life, based on the instructions the Bible gives me. I cannot allow myself to be distracted by unholy things such as celebrations and traditions that do not honor the Eternal God but have been in place for hundreds, even thousands of years for the purpose of honoring man made gods. No matter how much fun others seem to have while participating in these celebrations, or how much fun I had being a part of unholy practices before accepting Christ as my Savior and committing my life to serving Him, those practices cannot possibly please Him. I must ask myself the question, is this something Christ would celebrate or attend? Would He want me to say that I honor Him with this? He tells us to not have anything to do with the way that non-Christians (He calls them pagans) live their life and have for millennia. If we belong to the one Eternal God, we are to be set apart. That is why He has given us His instructions, including the Ten Commandments. So that we will know how to honor and please Him, glorifying Him in our lives. He wants us to be a family with Him, but will not force us to honor Him. If we choose to still go the way of the world, He will let us, but there are consequences. He is also a just God. But if we want to really worship Him and bring honor to Him, He will not only instruct us, but give us the desire and power to do what pleases Him!
These scriptures give me a lot to think on, and a lot of work to do. I don't want to miss a thing in this wondrous life Christ has for me! How about you?
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