Matthew 15:8-9 This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
Jesus had just had an encounter with the Pharisees about their “rules”. The Pharisees were more concerned with the legalistic rules they had created than they were about the commands of God. It is so much easier to read our Bibles and see the mistakes they made back then but we need to look for any of those mistakes in our own lives. When you worship at church is it for others to see or does it truly come from your heart? When you sing songs of praise are they just words you know in your head or are they words that fill your heart to overflowing. When you hear or speak the name of Jesus does it mean anything to you?
In the verses that follow the verses above Jesus explains to the people that it isn’t what you eat that can defile you (they had rules about what they could or couldn’t eat because it could make them “unclean” and He was trying to explain that it was a new day) it is what comes out of your mouth that shows that you are defiled! The words, behaviors and attitudes we have are a clear picture of our “heart” condition and our relationship with God. We need to be concerned when we are not pure in our words, attitudes and behaviors. What others think of us will not matter in eternity, Your standing with God will! God looks at your heart and knows where you are spiritually. You may sing with your hands raised on Sunday morning, but God knows if your heart is pure and those beautiful words are heartfelt or not. He knows when you are faking it in life and when you are real – He sees your heart!
We can always grow in our walk with Christ, if you feel you don’t need to grow you are in serious trouble. The only way to truly grow to be more like Him and to have that close walk with Him is to be in The Word “day and night” and to pray for Him to show us what we need to change in our walk with Him to be more like Him. God’s desire is for you to be like Him and to have all the success He created you to have, but it takes spending time with Him.
Quote: “Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.” George Sheehan
This has been on my mind recently. It is definitely something that affects my relationship not only with God, but with my husband and my children. We are working on creating an attitude of thankfulness and kindness and peace in our home, and more and more I realize that God is calling to me {and my husband} to be the people he called us to be so that our girls can become who he designed them to be.
Thank you for sharing some convicting truth today.