Living an Authentic Lifeናሙና

Connecting Inside and Out

Yesterday, we looked at how you and I can live out an authentic faith – a faith firmly rooted in a loving relationship with God. 

The opposite of authentic faith is, of course, hypocrisy. And hypocrisy, when you think about it, refers to a condition where who we are on the outside doesn’t reflect who we are on the inside. We believe one thing but do another. 

Usually, what we do on the outside reflects what’s happening on the inside. But sometimes, we try to hide what’s happening on the inside by behaving differently on the outside. And in the long run, that just doesn’t work. 

Have you ever felt like your Sunday experience of worshipping God is a long way removed from your life every other day? That sense of “Oh, I’m back in the real world” that can come on a Monday morning?

Well, you’re not alone. Many Christians experience that disconnect. The important thing to understand is that “worship” isn’t something that’s tucked away into a convenient time slot each week. No! Worship is a way of life. How do we know that? Well, Jesus talks about two different forms of worship in Luke 4:8 – worship and service.

When Jesus is tempted by the devil in this verse, His reply goes beyond simply bowing down to God. It includes serving God – integrating what we do in our hearts and what we do with our hands. It flows from our heart's attitude on the inside to the life that we lead on the outside. You can see these same concepts in Romans 12:1.

You and I, we can’t live two different lives – the inner different to the outer. Eventually, it will tear us apart. Eventually, you have to follow one or the other. 

For Jesus, worship is holistic. It’s “all in”: 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind (Luke 10:27). 

Worshipping God within your heart and with your life is what the authentic Christian life looks like; upward and outward; inside and outside. All in, heart and hands, adoration, and sacrificial worship. That’s how to live an authentic Christian life. That’s how to witness the love of Christ to a lost, broken, and hurting world. 

Life Application Questions 

• As you were receiving the Word of God into your heart today through this plan, what was the one thing the Spirit was speaking to you?  
• How much do you relate to the wilderness temptation that the devil put in front of Jesus (Luke 4:1–8)? If you’d been in Jesus’ shoes, weakened after starving for forty days and nights, how do you imagine that you may have responded?  
• Now take another look at how Jesus responded, with your knowledge of the meanings of “proskuneo” (worship) and “latreuo” (service). Rest in His response and let God’s power transform you.  
• Take some time to pray and wait on God, asking Him to transform your life more and more through your worship of Him.