Empty Words

These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
- Isaiah 29:13 (NIV) -

How easily we become guilty of the very same sin. We claim to be Christian, we sing Christian songs, we utter pretty prayers and discuss theology; but our lives tell another story. When we worship, sometimes we sing with great emotion. But our hearts are deceitful. We do not realise that we are singing for ourselves and not for God. We sing to uplift our own hearts and not to give God his worth. We sing "I Surrender All" with no intention of surrendering the smallest daily action to the Lord. When we listen to God’s word, we try to avoid letting it pierce our hearts in the vain hope of escaping accountability to him. When we pray, we might not be asking for selfish things. Our prayers might sound holy and surrendered. But sometimes we pray, "Have your way in me." and right after that we live according to our own ways. We pray, "Take control, Holy Spirit." then immediately take control of our own lives. We pray, "Glorify yourself in me." and then go on to use God’s holy name to glorify ourselves. We pray, "May I speak your words only." then quickly forget and, as though we never prayed that prayer, speak our own words in our worldly wisdom. We pray, "Give me your strength, Lord." then immediately act in our own strength and wisdom. Our lips say we want God in our lives but our actions turn our words to dust. We are full of pomp and pretense, and our hearts are deceitful above all else. Oh Christian, let not the way you live prove empty your sweet words to Jesus. Let your worship be seen in the life you live moment by moment and not just on Sunday mornings. Present yourself as a living sacrifice - in thought, word and deed, and at all times - for this is your spiritual act of worship, holy and pleasing to God.