“My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, and I will
look up.”- Psalms 5:2
I had an "OUCH" in my Bible study time this
morning. I was reading a book by Arthur
Murray called “A Life of Obedience”. In
chapter 4 he’s talking about daily time with God, and he says:
"The SUPERFICIALITY of our Christian service comes from
having so little real contact with God.
If it is true that GOD alone is the source of love, goodness, and
happiness, and that to have as much as possible of His presence, His
fellowship, and His blessing is our highest joy, then surely to meet Him alone
in the morning ought to be our aim."
We can be superficial Christians with each other, putting on
the cloak of right living and right attitudes.
We can walk around smiling, “God Bless You!”, “Praise God!”, and lots of
Christian words and slogans pouring out of our mouths all day long. But that gets us NOTHING when God looks at
us. If He looks at us and sees us living
as superficial Christians, He can see through the cloak of our pretenses. “If” He is the one we are truly living for
and trying to please, being a surface-only Christian is not going to cut
it.
Hypocrisy is nothing more than pretending to be something we
are not. God wants our genuine attention,
our genuine love, and our genuine obedience to His will on a minute-by-minute
basis.
Being a superficial Christian is like an empty peanut shell.
It’s disappointing to find one, but when
we go to one of those restaurants where peanuts are on the table in buckets, I’m always digging deep into that peanut bucket. An empty shell looks like all the
others. But when I squeeze it to crack
it open, there’s nothing inside to fight back and it cracks right open and
crumbles in my hand! The peanut grew to
the same size as the others, looked no different on the outside, but it had
NOTHING inside.
When we’re superficial Christians and the pressure of life comes
along, there's nothing in us to fight back, and we'll crack! We’re a disappointment to God who intends us
to live for Him, and with His words planted deep in us for comfort and strength. We’re also a disappointment to those around
us who thought we were what they saw. We have to fill that void up daily with His words of strength and comfort. Morning Bible study isn’t an option for ‘when’ you think you will have a tough day. You don’t eat only when you’re hungry, but you eat because you know you’ll need strength and food gives strength.
God’s word is our spiritual food. His voice from it is our nutrition. Without it, we can grow to look like a
Christian, but without any strength to overcome the world. We can nibble on God’s word, taking time to
read only a verse here or there, but it’s not meant to be a snack. It’s the BREAD of life – crucial nutrition.
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