Isaiah 65:2-3 - All day long I have held out my hands to an
obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own
imaginations-- a people who continually provoke me to my very
face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning
incense on altars of brick;
Isaiah was given a word for those who just did not
understand how angry they were making God. His people…the very ones that he had
chosen to save….had turned their backs to him.
They went their own way…praying to whatever god they created for their
own purposes. If they sacrificed to God at all…they did on their terms…the way
they wanted to…in places not declared holy.
The problem must have gotten worse and spread to even the
leaders. So Jesus gave them a name. he called
them hypocrites in Matthew 23:13-36. Miriam Webster must have agreed…for Merriam
Webster wrote… “a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or
religion …. a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or
feelings.”
At least the people in Isaiah’s day were blatantly violating
the law of God. I don’t know many professed Christians today who have fallen
into Satanism or tea reading…although I suppose there are a few. Because Jesus
changed the rules when he died for our sins on the cross…much of the problem
with todays’ professed Christians is a mere interpretation of what the Bible
says. And the truth is that some of these interpretations are pulled out of
context or based on added “so called” scripture.
I look around me and see a world that has gone pretty much
crazy. I stopped watching the news at
night…and gave up TV. I stream the early morning news from a local station on
weekdays….just to see the weather. There is enough violence on those few
minutes to prove that Isaiah’s words are still relevant. And there are enough empty seats in evry
church around the world…of every denomination…to prove that Jesus did not
convert all hypocrites because of his extreme sacrifice.
I understand this accusation from Isaiah and Jesus…because I
used to be one. I struggle daily with
letting it reappear in my heart. It sneaks in slowly…and registers so small a
violation at first…that we don’t even realize that we have let it begin to rule
our thoughts. We think falsely that because
we do good things….or we sit in a church Sundays…or we utter prayers on a
regular basis that we have become better than the others around us that do
not.
The bottom line is that if we have asked God to live in our
heart…if we have accepted and believe in what he did for us…we have to …want to….follow
ALL of the directives we read about in his word. We can’t pick and choose…we
don’t get to decide which day of the week we will be Christian and party all
the other days. We can’t justify our materialism because we give 10% of it to
God or some charity. If what we are
doing puts the focus on us…then we haven’t gotten it yet.
The love of God demands that we put ourselves last. God gets to decide just what we get in
life. Our job is to seek out his will and
spread the gospel like he told the disciples in Matthew 19. My job right now is
to write…to read and share the thoughts he gives me each morning on facebook…. and a blog( www.wakingupwithgod.blogspot.com ) …..and twitter….and just recently Instagram… so many around the world who don’t have access
to regular services…or Bibles at all…can hear a portion of his word each day.
That is my focus….my visit with God each morning has transformed me into a
person who is trying to put herself last…although I admit that is very hard
sometimes.
Father…I thank you for the reminder that I need to constantly
guard against becoming a hypocrite. I
thank you for opening my eyes and helping me to see that what you want is more
important than what I want. Forgive me
for all the times I put myself first…and made you angry and sad. Help me to stay focused on you so that I can
do the job you have given me to do the best that I can. Thank you for using my
time with you to spread your word to others. Amen.
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