Are We Just Giving God Lip Service?

“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.” - Matthew 15:8

The longer that I have a Christian and especially the longer I have been in the ministry I can’t help but think that we are just giving God lip service. We know the right lingo to use and we know how to act the part, but is it really in our hearts?

The Bible tells us that when we are born again that we become a new creature in Christ, the old things are passed away, and all things are become new. This means that our old way of talking (vulgar language), our old way of thinking, and our old way of living is gone. It does not mean that we will not struggle or be tempted to still do things the old way, but it will be the desire of our heart to not go back to the old ways, it will be our desire to please Christ. When Christ saves us it should change our whole view of the world and the way we live our lives. If you look in many of our churches you see many people who have made professions of faith in Christ, but there is no change in their lives. Many of them are living in open sin and even acknowledge that they are not ready to give it up.

I can’t help but think that we are saying one thing with our lips but our hearts do not really believe what our lips are saying. If we really believed that Christ could come back at any moment or that we could die at any moment I firmly believe that our hearts and lives would be different. Do we really believe that there is a place called Hell, and that people who die lost without Christ actually go there? Do we really believe that we are going to give an account to Jesus Christ for every thought, every word, and every deed in our lives? Do we really believe that as Christians we cannot live in a lifestyle of sin? Do we really believe that Jesus Christ sees everything and knows everything about us?

If we really believe all of these things then why do we live as though they are not true. I do not point a finger at anyone else without pointing 3 others right back at myself. In my own life I struggle with the thought of whether I am just giving the Lord lip service. If we really think about the seriousness of what the Bible teaches it is sobering indeed. I believe what it boils down to is that we have more lost people that are members of our churches than most of us realize. I also believe that for those who are truly born again it means that we all need to repent and get our hearts right with God, myself included. This what is wrong with modern day Christianity, the lost world sees right through us. They see us professing one thing with our lips but they do not see it mirrored in our lives, and we wonder why the we can’t reach people in our communities.

If we really believe in our hearts the things we say with our lips then it will change our lives. It will impact our witness and testimony for Christ in ways we cannot imagine.