Here Be Lions - Only A Holy GodSample

God Would You Forgive Us

Over the years, many Scriptures have come alive to me as I sought out what it means to be a worshipper of God. Not all Scriptures that impacted me were nice little encouragements. One of the more straightforward Scriptures that molded my worship is found in Amos 5:21-24: “I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans, and goals. I’m sick of your fundraising schemes, your public relations, and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want.” (MSG)

Yep. That definitely cuts to the chase. I think sometimes we have to take a step back from all of the activity and the noise and realize it is easy to lose focus of what and who really matters. We can sing our songs, say our prayers, say “Amen” through every sermon, but when it is all said and done, never really put into practice the things we just heard and declared. A.W. Tozer said it best when he said, “Christians don’t tell lies they just go to church and sing them.”

We speak of hope, but ignore the hopeless. We sing about healing, but never reach out our hands to the sick. We cry out for prosperity, but mostly for self-preservation. We ask God to give us the nations, but don't speak out against racial injustice in our own communities. There is such a thing as worthless worship. It is worship that has words, but no action. It is worship that has sound, but no heart. Jesus defines it in Mark 7:6-7, when he quotes the prophet Isaiah saying, “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”

We in the church have sat around too long saying all the right things, but doing nothing. We have spoken powerful declarations, sung the songs, and prayed the prayers, but now we need to take action. I don’t want to hear us talk about love; I want to see it lived out. I don't want to just sing about justice; I want to fight for it. I don't want to dream of every nation, tribe and tongue worshipping; I want to facilitate it. May we be a people who turn back to God, let our actions line up with our words, and let justice flow like a river and mercy run like a stream!