In verse 8, Jesus quotes a prophesy from Isaiah 29:13~
"This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me..."
Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees who were so "religious" that they made rules in addition to the laws already outlined in the Old Testament. They wanted to be so holy and "clean" that they concentrated more on the rules rather than the relationship with their Creator. How often do we do this in our lives? We speak as if we are living out lives pleasing to the Lord, but then we act as if we are living to please the world. If you feel conviction, you aren't the only one. We all do this in some shape or form. For me, I still struggle with the desire to be approved by people. Of course, I want God to be approving of me too- but it should end there. I should not aim to please people, I never will. Galatians 1:10 says, "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man?" Just this past Wednesday, I read a small devotional from The Word for You Today. On this day I read, "Those who love you today may loathe you tomorrow." What a truth! We can never completely please man, because people, in our sinful nature, tend to love conditionally. Even if you are doing your best to love others and serve them as Jesus would, there are still people you will never please. So instead, of wasting you time on something that doesn't really matter anyway, put all your efforts into loving and pleasing Jesus! I'm not saying not to love others or serve others- that's our duty as Christians- to let the Light of Jesus shine through our good deeds {Matthew 5:16}. But if we live to please men we will never be satisfied. Only God can give us that satisfaction and approval.
There are some that say they love Jesus, but continue to live in unrepentant sin. For me a few years ago, this was drinking and porn. For ten years ago that was promiscuity and drugs. I confessed with my lips to love Jesus, but my actions failed to prove that. In fact, according to my actions I was rejecting Jesus. How can I go to church on Sunday, but Monday through Saturday are slanderous, sexually immoral and drunk? There are people who love the thought of going to heaven, but don't love the thought of changing their behavior to do so. People don't like to think of themselves spending eternity in hell, but also don't want to commit to Jesus' rule in their lives. Friends, neither of these can be so. To follow Jesus means to let Him rule in every area of your life...not just on Sundays. You can come to him messy- full of sin, but if you decide and commit honestly to Him, He will clean up the mess and make you blameless before Him. Justification happens once you choose to surrender to Jesus. Sanctification is a process. Over your lifetime, sin will be revealed to you that you must choose to repent of to stay in right position before God. But when you choose to live in repentance, Jesus irradicates sin as you repent. I no longer am a drunkard. In fact, October 13th will be 3 years sober. I am no longer a druggie. In fact, I am high on the Spirit of God. I am no longer a porn addict. But I am completely in love wth my husband and am trying to build godly intimacy between us. I am no longer a slanderer. But God is [still] working on my tongue and teaching me to bless others with it. But honestly, I tried to work on these things by myself, and it didn't work until I surrendered under God's complete rule for my life- obeying all that He commands me.
How do you honor Jesus with your lips, but reject Him with your heart? Jesus wants our hearts, and by surrendering our hearts to Him, our lips will praise Him as a result of it. Jesus said that the Pharisees and scribes who were very religious people, had lips that honored him but hearts that were far from Him. He also called them hypocrites in verse 7. Do you want Jesus to call you a hypocrite? In Matthew 23 Jesus exhorts the Pharisees and scribes and as he does so, says, "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in." [emphasis mine] So not only does Jesus call them hypocrites, He also said they will not enter heaven. As a reminder, what did they do? They honored Jesus with their lips, although their hearts were not surrendered to Him.
What do these words do to you? Do you feel conviction? I encourage you to go there. Repent. Ask Jesus to make you clean. If you were like me a few years ago, confessing to know or love Jesus but proving with your actions that He wasn't your king, do you truly love Him? Are you truly saved? I can't answer that for you, only you can.
~Leanne~
"This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me..."
Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees who were so "religious" that they made rules in addition to the laws already outlined in the Old Testament. They wanted to be so holy and "clean" that they concentrated more on the rules rather than the relationship with their Creator. How often do we do this in our lives? We speak as if we are living out lives pleasing to the Lord, but then we act as if we are living to please the world. If you feel conviction, you aren't the only one. We all do this in some shape or form. For me, I still struggle with the desire to be approved by people. Of course, I want God to be approving of me too- but it should end there. I should not aim to please people, I never will. Galatians 1:10 says, "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man?" Just this past Wednesday, I read a small devotional from The Word for You Today. On this day I read, "Those who love you today may loathe you tomorrow." What a truth! We can never completely please man, because people, in our sinful nature, tend to love conditionally. Even if you are doing your best to love others and serve them as Jesus would, there are still people you will never please. So instead, of wasting you time on something that doesn't really matter anyway, put all your efforts into loving and pleasing Jesus! I'm not saying not to love others or serve others- that's our duty as Christians- to let the Light of Jesus shine through our good deeds {Matthew 5:16}. But if we live to please men we will never be satisfied. Only God can give us that satisfaction and approval.
There are some that say they love Jesus, but continue to live in unrepentant sin. For me a few years ago, this was drinking and porn. For ten years ago that was promiscuity and drugs. I confessed with my lips to love Jesus, but my actions failed to prove that. In fact, according to my actions I was rejecting Jesus. How can I go to church on Sunday, but Monday through Saturday are slanderous, sexually immoral and drunk? There are people who love the thought of going to heaven, but don't love the thought of changing their behavior to do so. People don't like to think of themselves spending eternity in hell, but also don't want to commit to Jesus' rule in their lives. Friends, neither of these can be so. To follow Jesus means to let Him rule in every area of your life...not just on Sundays. You can come to him messy- full of sin, but if you decide and commit honestly to Him, He will clean up the mess and make you blameless before Him. Justification happens once you choose to surrender to Jesus. Sanctification is a process. Over your lifetime, sin will be revealed to you that you must choose to repent of to stay in right position before God. But when you choose to live in repentance, Jesus irradicates sin as you repent. I no longer am a drunkard. In fact, October 13th will be 3 years sober. I am no longer a druggie. In fact, I am high on the Spirit of God. I am no longer a porn addict. But I am completely in love wth my husband and am trying to build godly intimacy between us. I am no longer a slanderer. But God is [still] working on my tongue and teaching me to bless others with it. But honestly, I tried to work on these things by myself, and it didn't work until I surrendered under God's complete rule for my life- obeying all that He commands me.
How do you honor Jesus with your lips, but reject Him with your heart? Jesus wants our hearts, and by surrendering our hearts to Him, our lips will praise Him as a result of it. Jesus said that the Pharisees and scribes who were very religious people, had lips that honored him but hearts that were far from Him. He also called them hypocrites in verse 7. Do you want Jesus to call you a hypocrite? In Matthew 23 Jesus exhorts the Pharisees and scribes and as he does so, says, "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in." [emphasis mine] So not only does Jesus call them hypocrites, He also said they will not enter heaven. As a reminder, what did they do? They honored Jesus with their lips, although their hearts were not surrendered to Him.
What do these words do to you? Do you feel conviction? I encourage you to go there. Repent. Ask Jesus to make you clean. If you were like me a few years ago, confessing to know or love Jesus but proving with your actions that He wasn't your king, do you truly love Him? Are you truly saved? I can't answer that for you, only you can.
~Leanne~
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