Matthew 15:7-9 "…7You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ ”
Those who become the angriest when Scripture is brought to bear are those who are in rebellion against God.
Ezekiel 33:31
"So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest gain."
Isaiah 1:11-15
“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you—this trampling of My courts? Bring your worthless offerings no more; your incense is detestable to Me. New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations—I cannot endure iniquity in a solemn assembly."
Those who adhere to cultural "Christianized" practices to pretend to please God are also those who negate most of God's Word while claiming they are "Bible believers." When confronted with their error and disrespect for God's word, they rage as though we did something wrong, when it is they who cause division.
God is not impressed with the things we decide to do for Him that He never commanded. Just saying we are doing something for God does not mean it is pleasing to Him.
This modern culture lives by the erroneous notion that it is a good thing to sing; "I did it my way." It has become the cultural religion of our day to praise self and do what pleases us, rather than seeking Christ.
Amos 5:21-23
“I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; for your peace offerings of fattened cattle I will have no regard. Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps."
Micah 6:6-8
"With what shall I come before the LORD when I bow before the God on high? Should I come to Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"
Are the holidays we claim are for God really for Him? I think not, because of the ritual, the pomp, and assigning to God what He never commanded.
To walk humbly with our God means we will seek Him for His ways and not our own. His way is simple and unadulterated with human thinking. His way is always the best, even if we don't understand or see the results we would like.
The more we obey Him the more we understand the debth of life and the blessings from obedience. We miss blessings when we do things our own way.
Isaiah 55:8-9
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts."
Those who choose their own ways over God's are hardening their hearts and reducing their own thinking to foolishness.
Proverbs 18:2 "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion."
Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Let's not be fools, let's grow in wisdom and see the Spiritual blessings God has for us!
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