-August 6, 2022-
Good morning, happy Saturday,
“He answered and said to them, ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.’”
(Mark 7:6).
The Jews in Isaiah’s day provoked the Lord to anger. They committed idolatry continually, while still offering sacrifices to the true God. The Lord had to take them into the Babylonian captivity for seventy years. The Pharisees in Jesus’ day followed in these same ways. Their hearts were not with the Lord at all. They just paid lip service to Him. They rejected Jesus and demanded He be crucified on the cross.
The definition of lip service is very telling, “to say that you agree with something, but do nothing to support it.” The questions we should ask ourselves are these: do our lives support what we say we believe? Is there reality to our faith? Is our heart into it? The Pharisees were hypocrites. They appeared to be religious but there was no substance, no reality to it. They talked a good game, but they didn’t live one. They had the law, the prophets, the covenants of promise, the priesthood, the sacrifices, and the festivals, but they lacked the true faith in action.
Today, many professing Christians go to church and appear godly but their hearts are far from God. Once they leave church, they go back to living in the world. For truly born again believers we must guard against mere outward Christianity without the substance and reality. True faith operates seven days a week. Our pastor coined the phrase many years ago: True Christianity verses Churchianity. To be right with Lord we must give Him our whole hearts and draw near to worship and serve Him. We can’t just go through the motions; saying the right words with our lips with no actions to back it up.
When our lives back up what we say, unsaved people will see the difference. That is why we are here in earth to proclaim Christ by our words and actions. We can then have a powerful impact on the world. Our testimony and witness is bolstered by the way we live for Jesus. Only Christ can change lives. We need daily devotions, times of prayer and time in the Word to strengthen our faith. If we aren’t growing we are going backwards.
Have a blessed day by drawing near to the Lord with our hearts not just our words. Stay safe and healthy.
In service to our blessed Lord and King,
Dean
Dean Allen's Daily Devotional 