To put it on every time we walk in the church door, but often its camouflage that’s covering up some issues in our life that aren’t Christian at all.
Jesus put it this way in Mark 7:6, our word for today from the Word of God: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
We can say all the good, God-honoring things and underneath we can have a heart that is far from Him. A life that has, beneath that spiritual camouflage, some attitudes or actions that have no place in a child of God, someone who’s been rescued at the price of the blood of His Son.
We forget that God does not look at the “outward appearance” but “at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7) the Bible says. In other words, the only One who really matters is not fooled by our Christian words, our Christian rationalizations or our Christian activity. Our whole relationship with Him, His blessing on our lives, is all about the condition of our hearts.
Could it be that we’ve been hiding some serious un-repented sin under the camouflage of spiritual words? We can be talking about prayer and Bible study in the morning and swimming in the cesspool of pride, fear, or worse at night.
Our mouths can be talking about glorifying God, while the heart can be full of pride and selfish ambition. You know where your responsibility is, where you should be, what you should be doing, Yet, you justify not being there because you camouflage it and make it about God or Godly actions when in reality it’s really about YOU and what You want to be doing, and where YOU want to be, instead of what and where God wants you to be.
Our Christian words can mask all kinds of hidden bitterness, lust and deception, or a life with all kinds of different little compartments that’s all about Jesus in the God-compartment, but all about you at work, or at home, or at school. You can even try to put Christian words on things that are anything but Christian.
You may call it conviction, God calls it stubbornness; you may call it compassion, God calls it compromise;
You may call it love; God calls it immorality or adultery.
What are we holding inside? What are we conveniently camouflaging thinking it is well hidden? What are we putting first in our life before God? Or Who are we putting first in our life before God?
Isn’t it time to take that look in the mirror and see the hypocrite behind the beautiful words? There’s freedom, there’s forgiveness and there’s integrity waiting for us at the cross of Jesus Christ, where we need to bring all the sin that’s been hiding behind the spirituality.
One of the greatest dangers of being in a Christian environment is that we can know the words and never know the Lord.
Its not how good we look in our Sunday best go to meetin’ clothes, or what a nice ride we’re parking in the church parking lot. It’s not about the hugs, handshakes and smiles we share on Sunday mornings. And Sunday Morning’s Only!
It is about the tongues we wag 30 minutes after we’re out the church doors. Or our frozen frowns we pass out daily, where’s the love Monday through Saturday? Where is it Camouflaged?
The question was asked recently, “How many people do you pass by on a daily basis you can look at and say, there walks a Christian? Very few- was the answer.
Oh, the conditions of our heart...May they be filled with the love of Jesus and May we be able to share it with those we pass everyday!
‘Til next week, God bless.
Post a Comment
