Examine, examine

Examine, examine

"Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: 'These people honor Me (the LORD) with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men'" (Mark 7:6-7).

We may be in church. We may have our own ideas and our own interpretation of the Bible. But we have to ask are we truly following the Bible? Is this what the Bible is really saying? Are we reading into the Bible what church tradition tells us, what we have been told by church? Do we check on the Word? Do we make it a point to familiarize ourselves with the Bible? Let us not become like the Pharisees in this passage honoring Him only with our lips, our hearts far from Him, worshipping in vain ( useless worship ) and following the teachings of men (thinking it is God's or due to lack of effort to seek and learn more, not realising we are actually following teachings of men!).

Disobedience - the opposite of faith & believe 

"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who DOES NOT OBEY the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abides in him"

John 3:36

God's righteous judgement will one day come upon those 1. Who do not know God and 2. Who DO NOT OBEY the gospel of our Lord Jesus . 2 Thess 1:8. Read on to verse 9.

So what then establishes our believe - that we may have eternal life? Our obedience . This means carrying out works of faith i.e acts of obedience. It is no use calling out Lord Lord when there is no obedience. Non obedience shows non belief. "Believe" is an active word. Eg. Can we truly say we believe if we act in the manner that shows we do not believe He will take care of us? Can we say we believe when we seek not His kingdom but ours first? Can we say we believe if we sit in our comfort zones and not adhere to the great commission to make disciples?