COUNTERFEIT DEVOTION

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to My people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know My ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.”

“‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’”

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?”

Isaiah 58:1-5

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever wondered why the Lord doesn’t seem to be moving in your life situations?

Maybe it has something to do with the level of devotion you have for Him.

You see, we tend to put on a show sometimes when it comes to our spiritual life. We think that if we perform certain acts in worship that we are meeting the Lord’s requirements for righteousness and holiness, and in return, we should be granted His blessings. We might go to church, sit in the pews and pray, stand and sing a few songs, take communion on given Sundays, and listen to a pastor deliver a message from the Bible but what do we do after that? Do our lives show that we have been changed in some way by our worship? Or do we behave like anyone else in the world does, mainly those who have decided they don’t need to live with the Lord in their lives.

It’s a big problem with Christians today. And it was a big problem for the Israelites in the time of Isaiah. Look at these opening verses of Isaiah 58, verses that detail how God’s people displayed counterfeit devotion toward Him:

“Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to My people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know My ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.”

“‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’”

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?”  Isaiah 58:1-5

Note here that the people appeared eager to discover the Lord’s will and know His ways. They seemed interested in knowing what was right and wanting to not forsake His commandments. They were fasting and humbling themselves before God, and yet, nothing was happening.

What was going on? Why would God not respond to the repenting actions of His people?

It had everything to do with the way they lived outside of their religious actions.

For as we see in the scriptures, the Lord set things straight while explaining why the fasting and remorseful displays of His people were unacceptable to Him.  

First, on the day that the people fasted, they turned right around and did as they pleased. In other words, they were not interested in turning from their will and sin to a better way in the Lord. Their fasting was just for show, an act of counterfeit devotion.

Second, their fasting did not result in peace and unity but rather discord and disruption. The people exploited their workers and stirred up quarreling and strife, striking each other with wicked fists. These are hardly actions of people who are connected and one with the Prince of peace.

You see, true devotion to the Lord results in transformation. Through our genuine, authentic communion and commitment to Him, we begin to be more and more as He created us and that is in His own image. Thus, when people see how we are living, they get a glimpse of the Lord Himself. After all, the main part of being a Christian is to be Christ-like.

Conversely, disingenuous devotion leaves us no better than the world and our actions will show it, just as the Old Testament Israelites did. Their fasting did not separate them from the world because they were unwilling to part with the world’s ways. They could not act out their religious loyalty to God as they were and expect that God was going to honor their call. That’s not the way it works.

Friends, the word of God is speaking strongly to us today and we had better be paying attention. We can’t just go through the motions and treat our worship unto the Lord as if our actions are just rituals. We know that God sees and knows every part of us. He has clear view of all our actions, hears every word we speak, and peers into the depths of our hearts and minds so that no thought is ever kept in secret from Him.

With this, it’s a waste of time to try and think we’ll get away with counterfeit devotion. It’s never going to fly. Instead, remain true to God as He is true to you. Be dedicated to Him as He is dedicated to you. And give Him the fullest measure of your honor and praise with every moment He grants you.

That’s the kind of attitude He favors and expects from us, His children. That’s the kind of life He blesses.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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