LEARNING DAILY

Isaiah 29:13, And the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away. And their worship of Me amounts to nothing more than human laws learned by rote {memorization and repetition]. (from the New Living Translation)

John 1:10-11, He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

The word “world” needs to be defined. It is the whole of society, organized and operating independently of God, His rule, and His rules. The world will never recognize the Lord Jesus Christ; it will remain indifferent to or an enemy of Him and His gospel. When Jesus began His earthly ministry, the people looking and waiting for the Messiah to come did not recognize who He was. They thought of Him as a “good’ person, a teacher, and/or a prophet. Instead, they rejected and hated Him; they eventually nailed Him to a cross.

The verse in Isaiah speaks of a God’s people whose hearts were not committed to Him. Oh, they went through all of the right motions, following the many laws they were told to do by the religious leaders. “God’s people were coming before Him in prayer, worship, song and praise, even though their hearts were not committed to Him or His Word. They acted as if God’s revelation and His righteous standards were not obligatory. Instead of cherishing God and His word, they filled their lives with religious rituals and traditions taught by their leaders, and in false security they lived for themselves” (Life in the Spirit Study Bible). In other words, even when they were saying and doing all the right things, their hearts were far from God; they were trying to walk with one foot on the narrow way that leads to God’s kingdom and the other foot walking on the broad path that leads to destruction. Even more likely, they had both feet on the broad way!

At the risk of sounding harsh, I do not want myself nor anyone who reads this to be the person who says and does all the right things but has a heart that is far from God, who worships without their heart being in it. We just cannot be a people who praises and honors God in church and then leaves and lives a lifestyle that is not pleasing to God. Not one of us can be as the Pharisees who Jesus said pretended to care about the outward walk on the narrow way but cared little or nothing about Him on the inside (see Mark 7:6-7).

In 2025, may each of us care more about the relationship we have with God within our heart; doing so will certainly be reflected to others and will keep us on the narrow way. Loving God from our heart is the key to worshipping and walking with Him as He desires. Developing and maintaining that relationship with Him is a matter of placing Him first in what you do. I pray often Matthew 5:6 and Matthew 6:33 over each of my family and for each of you who reads this blog. My prayer for myself, my family, and for you is to have a greater, “hunger and thirst for God’s kingdom and His righteousness”! It only comes from your own desire to spend time reading/studying/meditating on God’s Word and spending time in prayer. Go back and read the rest of Matthew 5:6 – when you hunger and thirst, you will be filled!