Day 199/365- Isaiah 29:13

"Going through the Motions"

And so the Lord says,
"These people say they are mine.
They honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
And their worship of me
is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote. (Isaiah 29:13 NLT)

Stand up. Sit down. Stand up.

We all know the routine. You stand up for certain times in church & sit down for others. Growing up, we always sat down for the offering. When Compass Church was first started & we were standing during the offering, about half of the people were tempted to sit down. Where does this come from? It's learned. It's just what we do.

We learn the ups & downs of church services growing up.

It's amazing how poignant this verse is for us today. The people were great at going through the motions. They could talk a good game but when it came to their lives, God was missing. They had the vocabulary but their hearts were far from God.

This shows us that God wants our hearts. He is not interested in our words as much as the meaning in the words. He doesn't want our motions if he doesn't have our motives. It seems that we would do better to not say anything at all than to say something to God that doesn't reflect our hearts.

Think about this in terms of our relationships. Do we really want our spouse pledging fidelity with their mouths while harboring adultery in their hearts?

This gets me thinking. How many times have I lied to God? How many times has my heart & my words not matched up? We can play lip service with one another but with God it's not possible. He sees beyond the words to what's behind them. He sees beyond the surface. So wouldn't we do well to tell God the truth about our hearts that he already knows? Wouldn't we do well to tell him what's in our hearts & ask him to change us? At least then we admit our need for change & he begins to change us rather than going though the motions that are no good to him or us. Admitting what's in our hearts is confession, & confession is the beginning of repentance, & repentence is God's way of bring about real change.