Isaiah 29:13

"The Lord says: 'These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.'" - Isaiah 29:13

Have you ever faked it?  Have you ever just went to church thinking like you needed to go, and not because you wanted to go?  Did you help someone out with their service project because it was just easier than finding an excuse.  Have you ever just coasted through something, not really giving it your all, but just trying to get it done?  And now the big one - have you ever done this to God?

This passage talks about those who talk the talk and don't walk the walk.  They follow rules.  They make sure their appearances match up with that of a Christian or a follower of God, but their heart wasn't into it.  They were coasting through.  They wanted God to be with them as their spiritual genie, but they didn't want a relationship with them.

This is not what God has intended.  If you are on cruise control with your faith, it's time to turn it off.  It's about the relationship with the Lord.  It's about spending time with Him.  It's about giving Him your true worship and not your lip service.  If you hate people who brown nose, act like "yes men", and say whatever to get on your good side and know they really don't mean it - why do we think God does?  Why do we think God wants our leftovers, our bare minimum, our fake hypocritical actions?

Let's give God what God deserves.  He wants us, not our actions.  not rules that you can't find in the 66 books of the Bible.  Let's give Him what he wants, instead of just trying to get his stuff, without getting Him.

Jeremiah 16:19-20

"LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, 'Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good. Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!'”- Jeremiah 16:19-20

We think idolatry is a thing of the past.  Something that is beneath us.  Something that doesn't exist anymore because we know better.  We know that worshiping idols is worthless, because we created them outselves, out of our own hands, so what power could they really have.

But do we really not have gods in our lives, idols that we worship?  Do we really not chase after things like acceptance, power, fame, wealth, validation?  Aren't these not the same things?  We give and give and give to earn such things, but it is never enough.  We never get enough and we constantly strive to give more to these desires that are never fulfilled.

But fortunately, for those who believe in the Lord and what He has done for us, we know that only God can satisfy.  Only God can give us what we need.  Only God can fill that hole inside of us that is crying out for Our Maker.  God is the one who can bring us to the point where we see that God is the only thing that matters, and everything else is rubbish.  Let's start turning our eyes on the One who satisfies, rather than meaningless idols that we give power to, by raising them up higher than they really deserve to be.

Philippians 3:8

"What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Chris." - Philippians 3:8

Do you consider everything else a loss?  Or are you still striving for those everything but God?  It seems like an odd question to ask because when you think about it - God is offering you eternal happiness, eternal life, eternity with Him in which there is no more pain, no more sorrow, no more death, no more crying, no more negative feelings ever.  And yet, despite all this, we still choose to chase after things which don't bring us true happiness, always leave us wanting more, possibly causes strain and strife in relationships, and that is less than anything God has to offer.  

Why do we want this stuff?  Have you ever just stopped and thought about this?  How much time have we wasted in our lives chasing after meaningless things that never satisfy?  For today, I want you to sit and reflect about your last week.  What did you do?  What did you chase after?  What was the highlight of your week?  What was the thing you stressed about most?  What did you gain this week?  And when you think about your week, where did God fit into it?

We chase and chase and chase after all these unquenchable desires that distract us from the true God, but it's time to understand:  We can only find true happiness in chasing after God.  We can only find joy in chasing after God.  We can only find peace when chasing after God.  We can only understand what heaven will truly be like, if we chase after God.  Let's stop chasing the garbage and start chasing the eternal.

Isaiah 43:2

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." - Isaiah 43:2

Tough times will come.  Tough times always come.  There is never a time in our lives when we can say "Nothing bad can ever happen" and truly mean it.  We live in a broken world, one that is full of pain, sorrow, hurt, violence, frustration, anxiety.  And so, we will always need to endure difficult days.

But this verse is a verse of hope.  No matter how bad things will get during your ordeals - you will not be consumed.  The waters will not be strong enough to sweep you away.  The fire will not be able to set you on fire.  God will be with you in all of your times of trouble and will bring you peace during these times.  Hope to hold onto.  Hope to know that everything will be okay.

God is a God of love.  He loves us.  He is here for us.  And He will never let us be overwhelmed by the negative things of this word.  So hold onto that hope and never let it go.  Let the waters come.  Let the fires blaze.  But our God will be with us always.

1 Timothy 4:14

"Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you." - 1 Timothy 4:14

We all have gifts.  We all have different gifts.  As much as I would like to hope I have certain gifts, like the ability to throw a baseball faster and more accurate than anyone, or kick a field goal from 60 yards into the wind, I must be satisfied with the gifts God has given me.

Over the last few years, I have been wrestling with the idea of doing something, and whenever I gave it a shot, I failed.  I had no clue why I failed, I thought what I was doing was right, but it just didn't come together well.  And so what I would end up doing is giving it some time, and try again, only to fail again and repeat the cycle. 

It was only until today that I understood why I failed.  God gave me certain gifts and as much as I tried to accomplish my endeavor, I would fail because God did not gift me to do that one thing.

As so this verse comes into play because I was neglecting my gift to force myself to have another.  So my prayer for you today is to know who you are - to know what God has given you and to pursue how to use that gift for His glory.  If you're chasing after something God did not give you the gifting to do, it's time to reevaluate your motives and see if you're still doing what God is desiring from you.

Galatians 6:7-8

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." - Galatians 6:7-8

When we come into this relationship with Christ, we have a decision to make.  We can't come to Jesus and keep just doing what we were doing before.  We can't come to Jesus and have it create no change at all in our lives.  When we make a decision to follow Jesus, it is a black and white issue and there is no gray area.  You either believe and chase after Him, or you don't and continue where you were always going.  There is no in between.

We tend to have this idea that faith is just a one-time decision.  We say we want to follow Jesus, we have that ticket to heaven punched, and we wait the next so many years until our time is up.  But you can't do that to God.  You can't trick Him.  He knows where your heart is really at, and therefore, you can't fake belief.

Revelation 3 says that being lukewarm in your faith is so vile, that Jesus will spit you out of his mouth.  If something is spit out of someone's mouth, do they usually take it back?  When you get over the mental image, you know you'll answer "No."  So what makes us think that God will welcome into heaven that which was spit out of His mouth?  It makes no sense. 

That decision is simple - believe and live it, or don't.  There is no middle ground, so we shouldn't try to pretend like there is one.  Following Jesus is not a ticket you get punched, but something you make a decision to do every day.  You may fool your friends, your family, your pastors, even me, but God will not and can not be deceived.  So let's not pretend that he can be.

Philippians 3:8

"I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ" - Philippians 3:8

Our world has this very completely backwards.  If our culture wrote this verse, it would say, "I consider Christ garbage, so that I may gain 'stuff.'"  What is "stuff"? Stuff is the new iPad, the best TV, the next hook-up, the next grasp of power, the next million dollars, the next rise in popularity, the next whatever.  It is putting all the thing of the world before Christ.

But as Christians, we strive hard for what Paul has said.  We want to run after Christ and leave everything else behind.  But what the world has been filling our mind with, what their "scriptures" have been lying to us about, has taken over and made it sound so much better than what Christ has to offer.  So the question needs to be asked - what are you putting before God?  What are you saying is more important than knowing Christ as your Lord and Savior?

It is a tough question to answer.  Because in truth - we all know what it is.  We all know what is stopping us or what gets in the way every single time we try to follow what Paul has to say.  But I feel like we become unwilling to remove it from our lives, because it has a power over us - this desire to not miss an important show on TV, the desire to not miss a single status update from a friend on facebook, the desire to make sure  that next relationship happens, the desire to get the happy feelings from the drugs one's taking, the desire to do your own will above God's.

But I don't want this to be discouraging - I want it to be encouraging.  If you are struggling with something, know that you are not alone.  We all as Christians struggle.  We all make mistakes.  Some people look and think we have it all together, but it is not true.  We need to help each other out, and encourage each other to move forward in our faith.  I write these not as a person who has my life all together perfectly.  Most of what I write is a continued wake up call to myself to get moving and stop making excuses.  And I want others to know they are not alone in their struggles.  And if one person reads something I wrote and gives God honor and praise because of it, and turns their life around, then that is all that matters.