“Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day,  ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?  Then, I will tell them plainly,  ‘I never knew you.  Away from me you evildoers!’ Matthew 7:22-23 HCSB

One of the saddest things to me is someone who is lost and their lifestyle makes it obvious that they are not headed to heaven.  But what is even sadder still is the person that devotes time to attending church and warms a pew or a pulpit every Sunday and Wednesday and is lost, as my pastor would say, “as a ball in high weeds”.

If you are reading this today, my prayer is that this is not the case for you.  I encourage you to look at your life and your lifestyle.  Are you living your life according to God’s will?  Are you putting Him first?  Are you living a lifestyle that not only honors, but mimics to the best of your ability, that of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  We know that we all sin (Romans 3:23), but we also know that we can strive daily to be righteous and to do what pleases the Lord.

For many, their church attendance and service is nothing more than a theatrical performance.  They act one way on Sunday and Wednesday and totally different during the week.  My prayer today is that those who are playing Christian, will choose to submit their will to God and turn to Him and devote their lives to Him.

Obeying God’s commands goes a lot further than just showing up at church and reading some scripture and praying.  It has to go to the heart.  It has to be a lifestyle of devotion to Him.  When God calls us to salvation, we should want to have a lifestyle change.  We should desire to live our lives serving Him and doing His will.  We should want to imitate Jesus Christ to the best of our ability.  We know that we can’t be perfect like Him, but we should try our best.

Often times we get caught up in the motions of going to church.  It just becomes a routine.  We go out of obligation, we don’t pay attention in Sunday School or church.  We are busy making a mental list of all we have to do that week.   When this happens we find ourselves allowing those little cracks that I like to talk about where the devil can slip in.  You see, the devil likes to distract us.  When you find yourself not paying attention to bible teaching, you need to deal with the devil and tell him to stay away from you.  We need to focus on God and His Word.  We don’t need to just read the Bible, we need to study the Bible.  We need to pray to God to keep us focused on Him.  We need to live a lifestyle of service to the Lord.  Isaiah 64:5, You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right;  they remember You in Your ways.  

Don’t just give your Christianity lip service, give it lifestyle service.  Know God’s commands and follow them.  Love the Lord with all your heart (Matthew 22:37).  When we love God wholeheartedly we want to do what He commands us to do.  We want to serve Him.

Love others as you love yourself.  If we are honest, our love for ourselves is usually what gets us into trouble.  But what if we could love others, even the unlovable, as much as we loved ourselves?  If we did we would do right by them.  We would treat them kindly, even though they may not always deserve our kindness.  It would certainly make it easier to love our enemies and to pray for those that persecute us (Matthew 5:43-48).  We would forgive those who have sinned against us just as God forgives us (Ephesians 4:32)

So, if you are a faithful churchgoer, I encourage you to think about which category you fall into.  Are you there faithfully serving God with your whole heart?  Or are you there putting on a performance with bitterness, anger and resentment in your heart?  Maybe you are there physically only, but your heart and mind are elsewhere.

Know this, if you are putting on a performance, you are going to get cut in the final act.  God will separate Himself from you for all eternity.  If you are truly serving God then keep up the good work.  You have an awesome reward awaiting you.

If you are putting on a show it’s not too late to come clean with God.  He already knows what’s in your heart.  Cry out to Him to help you and to save you before it’s too late.

Have a great day!