Isaiah 58:12-13 - Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will
be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with
Dwellings. "If you keep your feet
from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my
holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy
day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as
you please or speaking idle words,
In two verses….Isaiah hits the Israelites right in the heart
with one of the most serious problems organized religion creates. If you take the time to go back and read the
whole chapter…you get to read how he chastises them for their routine worship…
fasting just to shout out they were fasting….and doing good deeds for others
just to be praised in public for being so loving and kind. They might have been
doing good things…but their heart was doing them for all the wrong reasons.
Church isn’t just a building to go and worship God. It does
us no good if all we do is go every Sunday and sit in a pew and listen
intently. It should be a place to heal…to
repent of our own pious behavior and sins. It should be a place that accepts
all people regardless of how they are dressed…or what they have done. It should
welcome them and show them the true love of God. It should be a place where
needs are met…and lives are changed.
Church isn’t just a place to say our prayers out loud….or
fast just to make ourselves look more caring….or make sure we throw a offering
in the plate each Sunday. The prayers we say should be followed by our hands
and feet actually taking care of the needs we have the resources to take care
of. Our fasting should be because we feel in our spirit that God wants us to
pray more intently for the reasons we fast.
The thing we gave up is supposed to give us time to petition to God to
provide for that need. The tithe we give…and any extra we feel led to put in
that offering plate each Sunday should represent our best…not just a calculation
of the 10% the Bible tells us is required.
I think of Cain and Able…and how badly it turned out for
both of them. One gave of his best…and the other gave what he thought was
required. Then satan planted a seed of
jealously and bitterness that consumed one brother. He let it take root in his soul…and committed
the first recorded murder. God allowed
it…perhaps because he knew that the brother that gave from love and faith
deserved a spot in Heaven….perhaps just to have an example of what not to do in
the Bible.
I will be the first to admit guilt. My prayers do not always
find feet and hands….my fasting is often times exposed because I simply feel
the need to explain why I have given up something…..and even though I write my
tithe check from my gross income…and give extra to many mission efforts….I have
never given till it truly hurts…never really sacrificed my best. I know in my
heart that my worship and prayers are “just enough’ and God wants more than the meager offerings
I manage to give each paycheck.
I sure needed a reminder this morning that God wants more
than the routine I have become accustomed to.
God wants a two-way relationship that grows in understanding….depth…and helps
me identify even the smallest sin in my life…so I can use the worship time he
has given me to truly draw closer to him.
God wants to use the time I spend in corporate worship to help me be a
better humanitarian…to learn to be more like his son.
Father…thank you for the fresh tears of conviction that wash
over my being this morning. I am so sorry that you have had to work so hard to help
me understand such a small…yet very important concept of your love. Forgive me…and help me to break out of the
routines that bind my heart into boxes of right and wrong. Help me see everything around me with the
eyes of your son…so that I can become your hands…and feet that healed…fed…..clothed….and
taught others about his father’s love.
Amen.
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