OCU C)HT C Devotion 05
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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
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To answer the devotional’s question, I do consider myself a Christian. Although I try to hate sin and love God deeply, because I am human this can be hard sometimes. I know it is only with God’s help for me or anyone else to be able to do this. To reject sin from coming in us can be hard when our flesh says something contrary to the Spirit. However, we need to hold on to what the Holy Spirit is telling us is right and obey Him. I liked that the devotional mentioned Psalms 50:10. It is a great prayer to God for a change that leads us closer to Him. It does not mean having our heart cleansed is easy, but its reward is more than worth it. Being right with God is most important. Truly having the eternal perspective focused on God helps us focus less on what we want in the present, which is temporary.
I hope you have a great last week of this class, everyone!
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This is an interesting devotional. I do consider myself a Christian, but not in a religion based sense. I identity myself more as someone who has a personal relationship with God and strive to keep that, with that being said as Jesus being my Lord and savior. Sin itself is a battle that we must endure every single day. For me, it is war. We are constantly being put into spiritual warfare once we submitted ourselves to Christ, only because we are now righteous in His eyes and now a threat to the satan. I hate sin more than anything, and i wish it could be erased from this earth, but i know that eventually we will all be free from it completely. Keeping focus on Him helps me keep my path straight, and even if i fumble, i always come back to Him because only He knows my heart.
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The verse talks about a big spiritual issue: the gap between what we show on the outside and what’s really in our hearts. Nowadays, it’s easy to get caught up in the outward signs of being a Christian, like big churches, popular leaders, and emotional worship, without having a true, obedient relationship with God. While God’s love is very important, His holiness and justice are just as crucial. Being a true Christian means not only accepting God’s love but also hating sin and wanting to be personally holy. The challenge to examine whether we truly hate sin as much as we claim to love God is a sobering call to authenticity. Asking God to renew our hearts, as David did, is a crucial step toward aligning our inner lives with our outward confession, making our faith not just professed—but lived.
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This devotional is challenging, but I believe, as with everything, it all comes down to that relationship with God. The “God loves you” message does draw you in, and many can be fooled into thinking “good enough” is good enough when it comes to checking the “religion” box. The difference is in the relationship. Our relationship with God will guide us in all aspects, including how we deal with our sin. Anything that is honored above God can be considered sin. By that definition, something that is sin for me may not be sin for another. It all boils down to that relationship, to giving your heart and life to God and obeying where He leads. A heart that hungers for God, and a life fully submitted to God, is where the focus needs to be. He will show you the rest.
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This devotion points out a trap that is easy to fall into in our modern age. It is easy for us to get busy, to not take time, or to ignore the relationship that God has called us into. We, as Christians, are called to be in community and relationship with the Father. Sometimes, we get caught up in the religious aspect of Christianity. God would much prefer us to be caught up in the relationship aspect of following Jesus. It’s also easy for us to say we hate sin, but do we really? The battle with sin is a daily thing. That’s why Paul said we must die to ourselves daily. And when we do fall into sin, grace and truth must be present. We must walk and talk in grace and truth. There is not one without the other. We must make sure that our hearts are in the right place.
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