Practice
30 “As
for you, son of man, your people are talking together about you by the
walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and
hear the message that has come from the Lord.’ 31 My
people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your
words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of
love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. 32 Indeed,
to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a
beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words
but do not put them into practice.
33 “When all this comes true—and it surely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” Ezekiel 33:30-33
How
many people do you know that rave on social media and to their friends
in person about how wonderful a sermon was, or a lesson that was taught,
or the worship music experience they just had at their church. Then
how many of you see the same people do something completely against what
Christ teaches when they leave the church doors and enter the gates of
the world. I am not here to judge, because I have been that person many
times in my past. Many times we can go to church meetings, services and
small groups to hear the Word of God preached, taught or worship, but I
wonder how many of those times we are actually listening to what is
being shared from God. I think there are times when the true meaning of
God's Word is overlooked because of where we place our emphasis when we
are in God's church. Maybe we just love that charismatic church leader
who is poetic in the way he speaks every single week, or maybe the
worship pastor really knows how to move me with the songs he chooses and
can really rock the house, or maybe that teacher we listen to in Sunday
School has really got a way with cross-referencing scripture the way no
one else can. I mean no offense to anyone here but there is a point. I
want to bring to light where we might be as followers of Christ. We
shouldn't merely hear the word as presented, but delve deep into what
God wants us to know. We shouldn't focus so much on the way God's Word
is presented but more on how we should hear the Word and then act on it
when we leave the doors of the church. We can't walk away and not put
God's Word into practice, because that just puts us back to where we
were before hearing the Word. We can be someone enamored by presentation
or someone enamored by God.
Have a great weekend.
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