[Manny Varela]

MATTHEW 15- DISTANT HEARTS

“This people draws near to me with their mouths, and honors me with their lips; but their hearts are far from me”. 

Matthew 15:8

Modern-day cultural Christianity has produced some of the biggest names Christendom has made within church history. These super-star pastors boast of what appears to be the blessings of God. These blessings seem to affirm their belief as they point to their large sanctuaries dressed with expensive lights and technology. They point to their grand buildings and their large number of members that can hardly contain sports arenas. Their focus is concert-like music and the message that God loves you.

Although God is love and is calling, this is just one side of the coin to a holy God. The reality is that God is just as much righteous as He is love. And that His righteousness demands punishment towards unrepented sin from His creation, whom He loves.

Unfortunately, the former message of love is much more popular than that of the latter; the judgment of unrepented sin. And because of this sobering reality, we have many so-called Christians profess with their mouth that they know God’s love, but in their hearts, they reject God’s holiness and His hatred for man’s sin. And because of this, many confessing Christians’ are very distant from the Lord they profess to know and love.

CHALLENGE

Do you identify yourself as a Christian? If so, do you hate sin as much as you profess to love God? If not, ask as King David did in the books of Psalms 50:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”

And only then can your Christian profession be genuine

[Addison West]

I recently learned in my Old Testament class about three different kings. The first king was King Saul, he was known as the king with no heart. Next was King David he was the king with a whole heart. Lastly was King Solomon he was the king with half a heart. We discussed how when Saul was first anointed king, he did well but shortly become an ungodly tyrant. Saul did not give any of his heart to God. He believed he could live his life separate from God. King David was not perfect, but he was a man after God’s heart. His reign was characterized by blessings, until he committed sins. David put his entire heart to and for God. Last, we have King Solomon. When he became king he built a temple for God, but also had a palace built for himself. He lived for God but at the same time wanted to ensure he kept himself comfortable instead of relying on God. Right now, I feel that I am like King Solomon. I identify as a Christian and say that I love God, but sometimes my actions don’t always match my words. I hope to eventually have a heart like King David to give all of to God.

[Jason Springer]

I first acknowledged the Lord in my life eight years ago but for the first four years I would describe my faith as considering Jesus while my heart was far from Him it said in Matthew. But over the past four years, I’ve learned how to grow in my personal relationship with Him and I’ve stumbled multiple times as I’ve been learning but, I can confidently say that He has changed and cleaned my heart so much over these years and though I’m not perfect He has continued to work on my heart. Some of my teammates and I just had a devotional over Psalm 51 this week; verse ten was one of the verses that we discussed, and we should apply it to our lives and pray that God continues to help us daily.

[Erin Kesterson]

I have had the sense of My lord testing my faith this past 2 weeks, I have been in and out of the hospital and I have questioned my faith yet once again. I believe that he has put so much on my heart and my shoulders that I know I am a work in progress to him and I must never step away from my faith in my lord and savor. Do I identify myself as a Christian I don’t believe I have a right to for I know how much my lord has given me the strength to get up and brush myself off and start again. Where is my strength now I’m not sure but I am handing it all over in his hands and Pray that I have followed his worship and his words to get me to be one that won’t need to stop and question my faith and know that I have done right by him as he continues to give me his unconditional love and keeps giving me the strength for another day.

[Braden Binegar]

I identify myself as a Christian I may struggle and stumble sometimes I know I need to work better so I’m not lukewarm. My first time ever giving myself to God was when I was 8 years old but since then I’ve had struggles and fell away from God now, I’m just on a journey to get back to him.

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