“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. Therefore, once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”

A friend of mine from college who had been raised an atheist once said that she thought the church was a beautiful thing because it was a group of people trying desperately to better themselves. Now this may have been a step forward for her, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. This view is very one-sided, taking into account only what we do as church people, not what God does. The world finds this view attractive because it seeks to do away with the mystery and sacrifice of God. Sometimes we mouth empty prayers and do empty works because we want to look good, involved, or spiritual. When we do this, we are nothing more than hypocrites. We position our lips toward Him, but our hearts are filled with our own desires. God promises that He will reward this attitude by astounding us, by flashing out His power to wake us up. This is rather like sticking your finger in a light socket – it will shock the fool out of you.

HOLY GOD, YOU ARE REAL AND ALL POWERFUL. HELP ME TO LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART AND TO LIVE WITH HONESTY, NOT HYPOCRISY. I CANNOT FOOL YOU; YOU KNOW ME BETTER THAN I KNOW MYSELF. PRAISE TO YOU FOR YOUR LOVE, WHICH NEVER WAIVERS. AMEN.

-Shared by Katherine McDaniel