Mark 7:6-7

"This people honors me with  their lips, but their heart is far from me; vs7. in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" Mark7:6b-7.
In this passage Christ quotes the prophet Isaiah on talking about the people of His day. But, if we survey the landscape of the church could we not see the same thing. Indeed we have many that merely pay lip-service to Jesus Christ and their lives are completely void of any sanctification induced holiness. On the other extreme are the law only crowd who teach their standards as Scripture neglecting the most needful thing of fellowship with Christ in an effort to have external holiness. In both cases and even those who lay coldly in the middle all our hearts are far from God. Is it any wonder that we have worship wars going on? What would happen to Christianity as we know it and all the divisiveness if each one of us got down on our knees and started repenting? Maybe then our worship will not be in vain.

Obedience

I am reading the Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges and it is so convicting when what connects us to God's holiness is simple obedience to His Word the Bible.

Why Can't I just fix it?

For those who may actually read this blog and don't know me personally I am married. You may think that is not unusual news but what you also don't know is my wife has a long term illness. To give you some background 3 months before we were married my then fiance got sick which was unusual but mimicked flu like symptoms and what the doctors thought was the early onset of Arthritis. Well the Arthritis thought was not great but not morbid or cataclysmic. However, the doctors missed some of the symptoms thinking they were nothing but the flu and my fiance (at the time now my lovely wife) kept getting sicker. To make a really long story shorter this all culminated in a trip to the ER which went into CCU and a couple weeks later came out with hope, some healing, and the burden of long term illness. My wife has had ups and downs but has been progressing on the healing path but because of the illness has days that are not so good. Or if she is having a good day but then does an involved activity, it wipes her out. For instance my loving wife today went grocery shopping while I had my brain turned into more mush by grad school. For her endeavor to take care of me and our house she is totally wiped out and exhausted. At this point she struggles to be anywhere near sociable or even approachable and many times need to rest. Now comes the reason for the title, me I am an on the go person though most of the time I wish I could stay at home. I usually maintain 2 - 3 jobs plus active ministry and being in the National Guard. With all of this I have a go until you completely collapse mentality and when she has to rest I must fight my urge to think why can't you keep going, then the Lord is gracious enough to remind me that she is the weaker vessel and needs my care. Then with that prodding of the Spirit another desire embraces me of "Why Can't I just fix it?" In my typical man mentality I can fix coffee makers that go on the fritz (even when it is inconvenient) and I can fix cars, houses, and even computer that people manage to literally cook or obtain 88,826 virus infections. So even thought I am not Mr. Universe or Superman I can fix many things why can't I fix this and make my wife healthy. I see her tired, worn out and hampered by disease and my heart hurts because I desire to make all things right for her. But, this is where I must trust in Jesus Christ who is the Creator and Sustainer of all things, about whom the Apostle Paul says works all things for good to them that love Him. So in my desire to fix things for my wife I must make sure I am fixed on Jesus Christ and the I am actively loving Him knowing and trusting that He does do all this for my good. One day maybe I can look back and see all the reasons for this burden but today I must trust. This is my struggle, having the one I love carrying the burden of sickness and though I cannot take the burden away as much as I may wish I can get under and help her carry it.

Adore

I am sitting here on this Valentine's day studying for a test and listening to the Soundtrack to the movie Sheffey put out by Bob Jone University. One of the Songs is an adaptation of Brethren We Have Met to Worship. In the words of the song it states that we (as brethren in Christ) have met together to Adore the Lord our God. Today is the commercially agreed upon day to show love, whether purely superficially in order to satisfy lust or to truly show love (self-sacrificing). In terms of love we often use the word "Adore" to speak of our devotion and our attributing worth to someone. I can say I "Adore" my wife and though there are times that it is not as well evidenced I can truly say that I place her on the so called "pedastool" and devotedly attribute worth to her. But the question stemming from the song on this proclaimed day of "love" is when was the last time you did such a thing, devotedly attributing worth to God? Can your worship either corporate or personal be described as Adoring God or is it dead, or maybe it is superficial to satisfy your "I am all right" meter? When have you last Adored God. The challenge take some time away from every one and everything else and get alone with God through prayer and reading His word. Just as it takes time to "Adore" the special someone and have a relationship with them so to does it take time to do the same with God.


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