DECEPTIVE FAITH

Matt. 15:8-9  “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away.  Their worship is a farce, for they replace God’s commands with their own man-made teachings.”  NLT

       I wonder how many people fall into this category.  I often have wondered how many people who go to church and are involved in it really are honoring the Lord in their lives.  It’s easy to talk the talk of salvation.  It’s easy to give the Lord praise and thanks.  It’s easy to tell of what the Lord has done and even what He means to us.  But, what we say is not always what is really in our hearts.  We can go through the motions and be very deceptive to both others and ourselves.

      How can we really know that we are right with God?  I believe this is probably the most crucial question we can ask of ourselves.  God clearly tells us that if we really do love Him we will obey Him.  So therefore, we must determine whether or not we are really obeying Him.  The only way we can know is for us to know what He commands us to be and do.  We must evaluate ourselves in light of God’s Word.  There is no room for debate on this.  What God says we must do.

       We often make up our own rules for Christian living.  We determine what we can live with and what we can’t.  We adjust what God says to fit our comfort levels.  We try to legislate faith instead of living by it.  We tend to impose our standards on God’s standards and if there is a conflict, our ways generally win out. 

      All of God’s commands are doable when we live fully surrendered lives to Christ.  He gives us the power and will to do them.  He changes us so that we humbly strive to conform to His ways and not our own.  We learn to live in Christ’s righteousness and trust Him to work out His holiness in us.  Honoring God in our lives is simply letting Jesus be our Lord and living to please Him.