Verse of the Day 1/19

Through the Bible - Genesis 47, Matthew 14:22- 36

 

Good morning,

Several of last weeks devotionals centered around prayer.  A friend who is going to school in Madison Wi. heard a sermon at his church the previous weekend and suggested that I listen to it, which I did.  It was a large church that had a several thousand dollar defecit at the end of the year.  The pastor said that a person or a church can pray for a check that would take care of their needs.  What he asked the people to pray for was a change of hearts.  God could provide "a check", but how much more could be done if hundreds of hearts were changed? The people responded by opening up their hearts and pocketbooks.

 

Today's verse comes from Matthew 15, verses quoted by Jesus that were from the book of Isaiah.

Matt 15:8 "These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"   NKJV
or from the NLT

Matt 15:8-  'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.'"

We can go through the motions in a relationship, and we can go through the motions in worship, do all of the right things, sing the songs, and offer eloquent prayers.  But if our hearts are not in it, it is, as the NLT says "a farce".  Sobering words.

 

John Piper writes, " When God says, "In vain do they worship me," or, "with their lips they honor me," he implies that worship can be thought of as a series of acts or words that are performed in obedience to biblical commands or liturgical tradition. Worship throughout biblical history always involved action. The main word for worship in biblical Hebrew means "to bow down." Worship was performed in bowing, lifting the hands, kneeling, singing, praying, reciting Scripture, etc. All this can be called worship. But all this can also be done when the heart is far from God. "

 

I love my wife Jean with all of my heart.  This involves more than just doing things for her.  There is a closeness, our hearts are knit together.  It means that when she is happy, I feel the joy.  When her heart hurts or aches, mine does too.  If I have hurt her, it grieves me, and I seek forgiveness, having confidence that based on past experience she will forgive me. It means, in our hearts we want to know, to love each other more.  I've only touched the tip of the iceberg, loving with all your heart goes much deeper.

 

Do we carry that over in our love towards God?  Is it evident in our daily lives, in our worship?  Is it evident in the things we should hate, like abortion mentioned over the weekend?

 

If there are things that grieve God's heat they should grieve ours as well.  We should not turn a deaf ear or stand idly by when others are in the process of debasing Him.

 

This past weekend we sang a song in church, "Hear Our Prayers".  The lyrics reveal a heart for God.

Hear our cries, Lord - hear our prayers.
Take our burdens, calm our fears.
God, will you make us a people that love you?
Please take our offerings that we set before you.
God, hear our prayers that we're lifting up to you.
God, see our tears that we're struggling to see through.
God hear our prayers to you.
In our weakness you remain.
When we're broken you sustain.
God, hear our prayers – we lift them to you.
God, hear our prayers – Lord, make our hearts true.
God, hear our prayers as we lift them to heaven.
The hopes of the empty, the cries of the broken...
We're reaching our hands out - oh Lord, will you hold them?

Piper continues," Genuine worship is never a mere act of will-power. All those activities of worship require the exertion of our will. But they do not become genuine worship by virtue of that. When God says, "Their heart is far from me," he does not mean they don't have the will power to go through the motions. Sure they do. But their heart is still far away from God. The reason is that the drawing near of the heart to God means the coming alive of our feelings for God. Worship is an affair of the heart. It is an affair of feeling and of emotion."   Doesn't it also describe love?

 

May we desire that He would "make our hearts true", to cause our feelings for God come alive.

In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
More tools available at: http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com

Matt 15:1-21

 

Jesus Teaches about Inner Purity

 

15 Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. 2 "Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition?" they demanded. "They ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat."

 

3 Jesus replied, "And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? 4 For instance, God says, 'Honor your father and mother,' and 'Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.' 5 But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, 'Sorry, I can't help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.' 6 In this way, you say they don't need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,

 

8 'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.'"

 

10 Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. "Listen," he said, "and try to understand. 11 It's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth."

 

12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?"

 

13 Jesus replied, "Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, 14 so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch."

 

15 Then Peter said to Jesus, "Explain to us the parable that says people aren't defiled by what they eat."

 

16 "Don't you understand yet?" Jesus asked. 17 "Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. 18 But the words you speak come from the heart—that's what defiles you. 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. 20 These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you."