Entertaining God

Please view the following video before proceeding to read this post:

Isaiah 29:13 says: "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men".

It is now time for us to get real with ourselves. Many people when first viewing the above video took offence. They were upset because they thought to themselves "What mockery!". Sadly, they would have misinterpreted the true intention of the "actors/worshippers" and missed the point that they were trying to make...they would have missed the point that this is the sad reality of the modern church. Although we may not sing these songs quite like what is depicted above, our hearts might sing them very often and we may not even realise it. God Himself said that many honour Him with their lips but are separated from Him in their hearts...that, that which is perceived to be reverence, is merely an act that was taught to them by mortal man! Please don't be angry with me, God is the One Who said it.

• Have you ever been in the middle of a worship service where you were (seemingly to everyone else) crying out to God, saying the right things, doing all the right actions, but your mind was not even on Him?
• Have you ever found yourself on a Sunday morning searching all over the house for your Bible because you can't even remember where you put it when you got home the Sunday before that?
• Have you ever been in church and been bored to death because the worship leaders didn't sing any of the "popular" worship songs that day?

It is so easy for us to simply lose sight of the fact that we may actually be giving God less than He deserves. We can go to church every day of our lives and, on the day of judgement, still hear the words: "Depart from me you worker of iniquity...I KNOW YOU NOT!...". It is not the prayer that saves us. It is not the ACT that we put on that saves us...because let's face it, man does see the show you put on (the outward appearance), but God sees the heart (your true intention/motives whether to deceive others by your outward show). Reference to Isaiah 29:13 is made in Matthew 15:8 and 9, but this time, the worship of God's people is referred to as a 'farce'! I dare you to research the meaning of the word 'farce'...

“I hate all your show and pretense—the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept  your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living." Amos 5:21-24 (NLT)

Notice that this Word was not directed at those who sit and fold their arms during the worship service waiting for the worship leaders to start a new or a faster song...it was not to those who only attend church one Sunday a month...BUT, it was for those who appear to everyone else to have it all put together...the ones who are in church every Sunday, with their hands raised high, their volumes turned up "to the max"...BUT they don't mean a bit of it...not only are there those who pretend to worship....BUT there are also those who are saints only on Sundays. How many of our friends might get heart attacks if they came to church and saw us in action? In Amos 5, God was literally telling His people to STOP! He doesn't want to hear those things...implying that they were wasting their time. IF WE ARE NOT INWARDLY LIVING FOR GOD, OUR WORSHIP IS IN VAIN.

God doesn't want to be entertained. He wants us to GENUINELY worship Him! He wants us to prove our love for Him by living RIGHTEOUS LIVES.

If you are guilty of it, give up the farce and start afresh. God wants all of you. When you are worshipping Him, pay attention to HIM...love on HIM. Don't do anything for God with an ulterior motive. His motive on the cross was to reconcile you back to himself, let your motives be pure when you go before Him.

Be blessed.

Krystal