Woody Allen, the great theologian, said in an interview once that 80% of success is just showing up. As Lee Corso would say on a Saturday morning, “Not so fast, Woody!” Take a look at Jeremiah 7:1 – 9.
Note where the Lord told Jeremiah to go to share this message, the gate of the Lord’s house. Jeremiah was told to go speak to those who were "faithfully" coming to the temple. These people were showing up. Not only showing up, but they were engaging in the Levitical sacrifices. One would think these would be the people who Jeremiah would want to recruit, after all they are going out of their way to practice religion.
But the message God tells Jeremiah to deliver is not one of encouragement. Rather, it is a strong rebuke. Even though they showed up in God’s house, they were not worshiping God in the manner that He required. They were doing it on their terms, not His.
There is a lesson there for us. Showing up at a building once or twice a week is not what God requires of us. He wants our hearts. He wants our surrender. Our surrender on His terms. He wants us to follow Him as God, not to get what we can from the relationship but because He is God.
Just showing up is not enough. In this case Woody got it wrong.
But the message God tells Jeremiah to deliver is not one of encouragement. Rather, it is a strong rebuke. Even though they showed up in God’s house, they were not worshiping God in the manner that He required. They were doing it on their terms, not His.
There is a lesson there for us. Showing up at a building once or twice a week is not what God requires of us. He wants our hearts. He wants our surrender. Our surrender on His terms. He wants us to follow Him as God, not to get what we can from the relationship but because He is God.
Just showing up is not enough. In this case Woody got it wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment