WORSHIP AND HONESTY

 WORSHIP AND HONESTY

Ps. 15:1, 5 Who may worship in your sanctuary, LORD? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? Those who do not charge interest on the money they lend, and who refuse to accept bribes to testify against the innocent. Such people will stand firm forever. NLT

Worship that God accepts comes from honest hearts. We must be honest with our dealings with others, ourselves, and God.

You cannot cheat others, treat them badly, or take advantage of them and expect God to be okay with you. What we do matters to God. We are to love others and if you love others you will not treat them in an unloving way.

If you want to connect with God, you must be honest with yourself. You must accept yourself as you are, a broken vessel before God. You do not have it altogether. You are not perfect. You do stupid things. You say stupid things. You sin against God. You fail to obey God always in the things He directs you to do. You often are driven more by selfishness than godliness. You don't understand as much as you let on you know. You have doubts. You get confused about things. You sometimes question God. You don't always like what God is doing. You don't always love people in a godly way. You don't like it when God doesn't answer your prayers the way you think He should. You don't like God's delays. You get spiritually lazy and don't always pray and read the Word like you should. You get upset and angry at others. You sometimes stir up trouble when you shouldn't. In other words, you are a sinner in need of a Savior just like everyone else.

If you want to connect with God you must be honest with Him. It's okay to not always be okay with God. Sometimes we have questions and doubts. Sometimes we don't understand why things are the way they are. Sometimes we would just as soon God would leave us alone. God knows exactly how you feel about Him and wants you to be honest about it. Tell Him how you feel, what you are thinking, He can handle it.

In other words, in order to stand firm before God and connect with Him, we must be a people who do not hide behind our spirituality. Sometimes faith is pretty raw. It is not always sweet and nice. We must be honest with God before God can really help us. He gives us free access to His presence and expects us to spill our guts out before Him. He will not be shocked or turn us away. There is wondrous healing and help for all who worship Him in the honesty of their hearts.