“I
hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings
and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your
fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to
the melody of your harps I will not listen.”
Amos 5:21-23
As I was in Scripture, I was taken for a journey. I travel from Genesis to Hebrews and made a
few stops in-between. I was again
brought to the truth that each and every person needs to honestly, genuinely
seek Christ Jesus. So often, in our
modern world, we see those who speak of Christ but know Him not. In our churches we have those who come regularly
but those who have never truly had a life-altering encounter with the
Creator.
In fifth chapter of Amos, we see a message for the people of Israel whose
content could easy be applicable for the church today. In Amos, we see a record of God’s proclamation
to His people… one in which he communicates His desire for the hearts of His
creation. God still has this heart for
His creation today. But like Israel, the
church and those who claim Christ have lost sight of the true, living God. Many easily declare that they stand ready for
Christ return without realizing what we are saying. The world does not understand and the church
does not realize that for many the day of the Lord is not something for which they should long rather it is something to fear. For many
inside and outside the four walls of the church, the day of the Lord will be a
day that will bring finality to all and with that judgment.
Many may be in agreement with the these statements yet still miss the
underlying message of this chapter in Amos… you see, the message was given to
GOD'S PEOPLE who were BRINGING ITEMS TO SACRIFICE TO GOD and who were SING SONGS
TO GOD, yet were so far from God. It was
not necessarily a problem with what the people of Israel did but rather a
problem with why they did what they did.
You see, although they may have physically look as if they were serving
God, their hearts were far from Him. For
this reason, He did not accept their offering.
So many of us, myself included, forget this truth often. We want
to be at church and not be the church… we want to proclaim Christianity and without
putting into practice that proclamation.
Let yet of us encourage one another to have a heart for God… let us
approach Him in such a way that He can see our faith in our words, deeds,
heart, mind, and soul.