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Ever Been in a Church Where …
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Isaiah 29:13 The Lord says, “These people come to honour me with words, but I am not really important to them. The worship they give me is nothing but human rules they have memorised.
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Download audio fileChurch services, when you stand back from them, are kind of a strange ritual – a ritual that’s evolved over the last couple of thousand years for sure, but one that, in its essence, has remained largely unchanged.
Have you ever been in a church where the people get up to sing? What an odd thing to do in this day and age. They call it “praise and worship”.
So they get up and start singing. After a while you start looking around. The guy two pews over – he’s yawning, and that woman over there – she’s fiddling with her mobile phone. Then someone walks in late and you all turn around to see who it is. That family, they’re late again! What’s the matter with them?
And they call it “praise and worship”. So many people, not all mind you, but so many look bored. So far as you can tell, they’re kind of going through the motions. Why? Because that’s what you do on a Sunday.
I wonder what God thinks. I wonder how He feels. I wonder, if you or I could interview God on this subject, what He’d have to say on the matter. If this whole “praise and worship” thing really is a thing for God, wouldn’t you think He’d want them to have their hearts in it?
Isaiah 29:13 The Lord says, “These people come to honour me with words, but I am not really important to them. The worship they give me is nothing but human rules they have memorised.
That’s pretty direct. When are we going to stop going through the motions? When are we going to bow down in our hearts, with our lives, and worship the God who came to save us? Or are we just going to keep on going through the motions?
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
Comments
Bill Wali
Berni, I fully agree with you. So much of my life feels like I am going through the motions, and I’ve allowed laziness to fill my worship and time with the Lord. Even my prayer time is a ritual. But thank you, Berni – I can always count on God’s word from you anytime.