“The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” Isaiah 29:13 NIV
Why do you have the religion you do? Was it simply the religion you inherited from your parents? Why do you have the religious routine you do? Is it merely one of annual repetition that has been set over the years like now hard concrete? Why do you see God the way you do? Was it a view that you heard during your formative years and agreed with? And how do you know what you know about Almighty God in this moment? Was it a combination of what you were told by others, what you have heard from the world, and what you choose to believe is true about Him? These all may seem like foolish questions to you, but I see each of these in abundant practice daily on the mission fields of Mexico. And in a statement that might surprise many, I saw these at work possibly even more before I ever bought a ticket to leave the good ol’ U.S of A.
As God continues to deliver His prophetic message to the world through the prophet Isaiah, He continues to dial up the heat and get to the heart of the matter…spiritual blindness. That is, a spirit that has grown dull, and unreceptive in acknowledging the Lord. And just how does this happen, this spiritual blindness that keeps individuals from being able to truly see and hear from their Maker? Well, to quote an old saying, “when you find yourself far from the Lord, He’s not the one that moved.” And all the while you thought this was just a clever anonymous quote, we find the basis for it founded right here in Isaiah 29, stated perfectly in the King James translation:
“But (they) have removed their hearts far from Me” Isaiah 29:13b KJV
You see, Isaiah warned Israel that they had lost sight of the Lord. Isaiah pointed out that their religion had become hollow, nothing short of them becoming monotonous religious robots…church zombies. They moved coldly from religious tradition to religious tradition. From religious ceremony to religious ceremony. Empty eyes and empty hearts performing empty actions to the Lord. And they did them all while their hearts were miles away from the Lord.
Today ask yourself a hard question…how close do you feel to the Lord? If your honest answer is “too far”, then your heart has moved, not the Lord. For whatever reason, you heart has been “removed” from Him. But don’t beat yourself up, this is what the world is meant to do. This world is controlled by satan (1 John 5:19) and he has a very specific goal to do just this, to tempt hearts and minds to withdraw from the Lord, to cause them to question Him, to doubt Him, to challenge His very existence. But don’t fear, the Lord always allows a clear path to Himself, a path for those hearts that have wandered away to come running back. And Isaiah clearly illuminates this very path back to the Lord farther into the chapter:
“In that day the deaf will hear the Words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.” Isaiah 29:18
The Word of God is the lighthouse that guides in wayward hearts lost at sea. What are you doing with the Word of God today? If it is distant in your daily life, I would imagine that your heart is just as distant to the Lord. After all, how can you pretend to maintain a close personal relationship with someone without daily communication? Today, forget about religion, that is, empty religious traditions you have learned or observed in your life. Instead, go to the Word of God and worship Him as He commands you in His own Words. Today, forget about what the world has told you God is like, and instead go directly to His Word and hear Him tell you what He is like...from His own mouth. And today, forget about your preconceived notions about what you have heard about whether it is possible to know God personally. For again, in a message the world and its controller will contradict, we find clear and beautiful instruction in the pages of the Word of God on just what it means to overcome religion, and in great faith, have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
“For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
It’s all about the relationship, not the religion. Draw your heart near to the Lord today and the Lord will draw near to your heart. Seek Him through His Word today and He will make Himself readily found by you. Cry out to Him to redeem you from the depths of your sin and He is ever faithful to respond to all that call. The Lord of Salvation, Jesus Christ, is waiting, just for you, with open arms…make it personal and call out to Him.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20
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