HONOR GOD WITH YOUR LIVING

 

HONOR GOD WITH YOUR LIVING

Mark 7:15-16 “You are not defiled by what you eat; you are defiled by what you say and do!” NLT

What do you do for a living? What fills your day up? What do you put your time and energy into? What do you live for? Does your living line up with your worship? It does not honor God when we gather to worship with others while not living for Him the others six days of the week.

Many go to church to make themselves feel better about what they have done during the rest of their week. While it is good that they attend church, it does not honor the Lord to pay attention to Him just to make ourselves feel better. Confession is good for the soul, but if it doesn’t change our living, it’s merely a meaningless exercise. In fact, if the Gospel makes you feel good about yourself all the time, you are not listening to the Gospel.

Many go to church with no intention of letting the Lord change them. If nothing ever changes, why bother? I cringe when I hear about those who go to church, confess their sins, and then feel free to live like the devil the rest of their week. It is troubling to me when the church becomes nothing more than a social gathering. It is troubling when people come together to be entertained. It is troubling when God is more of an afterthought than the center of worship.

It does not honor God when we try to live for Him by our own efforts. Rules for righteousness are not the same as righteousness! I Cor. 1:30 Righteousness cannot be legislated or earned. It is the reality of Christ in us, nothing more and nothing less.

Rules without righteousness are vain in their effort to make us righteous. Any church that tries to push a bunch of rules on you in order for you to be right with God, is not teaching the Word of God correctly. Yes, living in Christ, changes us and we act differently than we did before. There are certain things that ought to be seen is un as children of God. Gal. 5:23 Yet, if we are not changed from the heart, it makes no difference how religious we may appear to be.

It does not honor God when we try to live by anything other than God’s grace. Eph. 2:8-9 Grace affects not only our standing with God, it affects our standing with others. It governs how we see and treat others. It is manifested through love. I Cor. 13:4-8a Grace molds and shapes us into a people after God’s own heart.