Cont: Doctrines LIP SERVICE, and self deception

Greetings in the name of Jesus:

Who among us gives lip service to God?  When we really think about it Lip Service is just saying what someone wants to hear so that they will get out of your hair  about something that you don't want to deal with.  I know far too many people who claim to be in Christ but who do the very same thing with God. When all is said and done when we go to God for forgiveness are we going there to get rid of sin or are we there to simply get rid of a guilty feeling?  How many times have you walked away from your session of prayer with a feeling that you didn't  even have God's ear?  More than not you were probably right because God will not waste His time on those who do not come to Him with the right heart.  Many times the heart problem starts with clinging to the very kinds of doctrines we  spoke of in the blog before this.  These are doctrines that make us feel better about ourselves in relationship to God.  We may feel we are dotting all the I's and crossing all of the T's but for the most part we may be missing  everything in general that God is trying to tell us we need.

  I don't believe that God cares about our doctrines at all until they begin to divide us from being one with one another.  I met a lady who had the idea that she didn't need a relationship with God because she had been baptized as a baby.  It was a shock when I told her that she was living by a doctrine that had nothing to do with Christ.  It is time that we asked ourselves some very basic questions.  What is it that we really believe , and why do we believe it?  Probably another good question we may ask ourselves is who is it that told us this in the first place?  The fact is that the answer to some of these things may be very disturbing for us.  In fact some of these doctrines that we have long held as beliefs may be the very cancer that is causing the church to have so many health issues today.

  This concept of thinking that if I am a member of a church then I am OK is the decease that has driven us apart as Christians because it becomes an " US AGAINST THEM" feeling of competition than ministry especially when we hear about  ministers being so concerned about  sheep stealing from one church to another.  Everything that we do to separate ourselves by these doctrines is an aid to the enemy of God.  We end up rejecting one another and holding ill feelings over things that are of no concern to God, and ultimately end up disconnected to God through trying to worship Him our way!  We cannot put all of the blame on Satan either because Christ did Himself sit and weep over Jerusalem because they would not accept Him.  I believe that we have deceived ourselves into thinking that because we have failed we cannot be  of the same heart God is.  Jesus could have felt thhat He had failed not because He wasn't perfect but because the people would not listen to His message.  In the word  we find a passage in 2 Corinthians 3: 18-23 " Let no man deceive himself, if any among you think himself wise in this world then let him become foolish that he may become truly wise"  When we set ourselve up to have great knowledge many times we are the most foolish.  There will be people on that day who will be very disappointed when they find that their Christian club membership will not get them salvation  Read  what Jesus had to say in  Matthew 6: and 7: concerning God's feelings toward these people who refuse to accept the message that has already been set down for us.  While we may not feel that it is a big deal to not follow the things that Christ told us just remember when it comes our own version of salvation through doctrines that we have adopted in this life we should think of checking those things against the word of God before we put our eggs in one basket.  May you richly bless God through your life in Him.


THE UNWORTHY SERVANT