Lip Service
“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.” Matthew 15:8-9
“The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’ So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests. “
"On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’" Matthew 7:22-23
Are you someone who gives lip service to things but your actions don't support your words?
Recently this really hit home for me.
After sending a request for action to a group of people I thought were friends, only five of the sixty people responded with action. I was crushed, and it made me stop and think about how Jesus must have felt while walking this earth, and further how God the Father must feel each time my own worship is a farce and I fail to do the things reflecting the who and what I loudly claim to believe.
It is the stuff the Parable of the Great Feast (Matthew 22:1-14) is made of. Do you know the story? In it, the king has prepared a great wedding feast for his son, but when the servants went to call the invitees to the banquet, they refused to come! They had every excuse in the book.
Note what Matthew 22:7-14 says after their refusal:
But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply. Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
“For many are called, but few are chosen.”
I wonder.
Will you and I be found using every excuse in the book to forsake God's call upon our lives? If we arrive at the marriage supper of the lamb, will we be clothed in His righteousness? Or, will we be cast into outer darkness?
If you think saying a prayer one time to invite God into your life years ago has saved you, and there is no evidence of Him in your life, there is no change, no difference from the culture around you, don't be fooled into thinking you're safe.
Don't listen to what people say, listen to what Jesus says:
To follow Him, to obey Him, to be clothed in His righteous wedding garment, that is real joy.
Dear Heavenly Father,
May it not be merely lip service we offer You this day.
Amen.
Goodnight, Runners.
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