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.