All Or Nothing

"They claim to follow the Lord but then they worship Molech" (Zephaniah 1:5, NLT).

These words struck me as I spent time with the Lord today. Zephaniah points out a great deficiency in the lives of the ancient Israelites that still persists in God's people today -- hypocrisy. Many church-goers claim one thing and do another. Many speak devotion to God but live as if God is just one room in their many-roomed lives.

The world has rejected the church -- and rightly so -- for such hypocrisy. Tragically, the world has rejected God along with the church and that is a grave error. Such an error gurantees one will spend eternity in hell secluded forever from God.

To think that the church has a part in misleading the world through unsanctified living hurts my heart. To know I am personally a contributor to such an impression hurts even more. As God's representative on earth I have the power to point people to God and a personal relationship with Him through Jesus Christ; or, I have the power to obscure God by wearing a disguise of hypocrisy.

Today, God's Word pricked my heart. I must do better in seeing that my walk as a Christian matches my talk as a Christian to the best of my ability.