LEARNING DAILY

 

Matthew 15:8-9, These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.   And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.  (A quote taken from Isiah 29:13)

 

 Jesus was referring to the Pharisees and teachers of the law who were guilty of legalism.  A legalist substitutes outward acts, rules or words for proper inner attitudes that comes through salvation through Jesus Christ.  People, today, continue to honor God with their lips and have hearts that are far from what God desires.  There is the appearance of righteous living outwardly, but inwardly there is no love for the Lord (from the notes in the Life in the Spirit Study Bible). 

 

According to Kyle Idleman, in his book Not a Fan, this describes most fans of the Lord.  “Fans” go to church and Sunday School but don’t have a heart for the things of God; they have knowledge of God but don’t really know God.  Why keep stressing this?  I continue to stress these things because I believe I am to do so.  God does not want anyone to be misled into believing because he/she does these things that their life is not in danger of being lost in judgment.  Jesus knew the heart of the Pharisees and religious teachers He faced – their heart was not right even though outward appearance said everything was good.  The Lord knows each of our hearts and any motive for keeping God’s commands or regulations that do not come from a living faith in Jesus Christ, the renewing power of the Holy Spirit and the sincere desire to obey and please God is legalism.

 

I do not want to be misunderstood today.  Studying God’s Word to know what it teaches is invaluable.  Every believer must be spending time in the Word of God.  But it is not just about knowledge; knowledge can be a false indicator of our walk with the Lord.  We can have wonderful knowledge and still be on the “broad way that leads to destruction”.  The knowledge we gain from studying His Word must be done in order for our relationship to Him to grow and for us to stay on Narrow way that leads to God’s kingdom and eternal life with Him”.

 

The challenge is for God to see us building our relationship with Him from a pure heart (Check Matthew 5:8 again!) and our desire to be obedient to Him and honor Him in all we do!  Idleman would say this is being intimate with God.  Is this not the desire of our God and Creator?!

 

 

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