Skip to main content

Vain worship





 Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah when he addressed the Pharisees and teachers of the law:

 These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain. Mark 7:6-7

 Jesus is amazed at how religious people will speak the name of God and pray about honoring Him while maintaining distance from Him in their hearts. Is that really who I am sometimes? Do I worship God as formality and routine? Is my faith more about religion than relationship?

 Vain worship happens when I pray for God to help the poor on Sunday but won't even look a homeless man in the eyes as he stands at an intersection holding a sign. I pray "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done" on Sunday and then live for my kingdom on Monday. I pray for the lost to be reached but don't even know any lost people because I'm too busy hanging out only with Christians. I pray in thanksgiving to God that He accepted me when I was unacceptable but am not accepting of others who are different from me.

Worship does happen, however, when celebrating the grace of God in worship translates into being gracious toward others....when my Sunday connects with my Monday.....when my prayers become my marching orders instead of formalities. It is when my worship songs really become the songs of my heart and my love for God gets translated into real relationships with people.

 Lord, save me from vain worship. May my lips and my life honor You always! Amen. 

 Jerry Sweat is Lead Pastor at Beach Church in
Jacksonville Beach, Florida

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Building Trust When Faith Wavers

  Mark 9:21-24 21 And He asked his father, How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, From childhood. 22 It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" 23 And Jesus said to him, `If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes." 24 Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, I do believe; help my unbelief." Since faith is the core of our Christian experience, the consequences of wavering faith are far-reaching. Vacillating trust can lead us to make wrong decisions. Sometimes, after praying for direction, we might receive an answer that leads us to think, I can’t do that. So, instead of asking God to strengthen our faith, we make excuses. We may choose to postpone our obedience—even indefinitely—in order...
Post a Comment
Read more

welcome to my blog

Oh the waterfall of cleansing Grace! Welcome to my Grace blog.  I hope to both share and start a dialogue about Jesus Christ and how his life, relationships and teaching have a practical working value in our everyday lives. To go beyond our belief of Jesus... and into our belief in Jesus. I hope we can learn more about how the finished work of Christ on the cross empowers his work in us in our daily lives. I hope we can grow in His Grace and Wisdom! The name came from a Joseph Prince story in his book  "Destined to Reign"...here's the story: Prince tells the story of a young boy who found a rock out in the woods. Though it looked rough at first, he rinsed it in the small waterfall of a nearby stream. Turns out, the rock was marbly, smooth, and full of color. Not wanting to lose the rock, and afraid someone would take it from him if he took it home, he buried it back in the dirt in a tucked away place before he went home for the night. There, he left it. The ne...
5 comments
Read more

When Our Faith Wavers

    James 1:1-8 1 James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. 2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Faith is the heart of our Christian life. It...
Post a Comment
Read more