“But if the Lord wills, I will come to you quickly, and not by the words of puffed-up people, but by power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power” (1 Corinthians 4:19,20).
The impressive things about God are not the same as real life in Him. Eloquent words about God may abound in some circles, and there is certainly no shortage of in-depth discussion on the subject of spirituality today. But our relationship with God is not determined by the eloquence or depth of our conversations. not even Truth Our words alone are enough to guarantee a real relationship with God!
It’s tempting to stay within the realm of talk and not step into the world of action. After all, it is easy and pleasant to talk about God. When we put into words the truths about God, we not only feel spiritual satisfaction ourselves, but other people also begin to view us as wise and spiritually mature. But if we talk about God in such a way that the true emptiness of our hearts is hidden from others or from ourselves, we are doing something that is extremely dangerous. Because the painful realities that could draw us toward a real relationship with God are buried beneath the veil of nice theological words, we may discover that our own rhetoric has become our greatest obstacle to moving toward God. Constantly repeating the truth about Him will become a substitute for dealing with the truth about us.
We are probably familiar with the Bible’s warnings against religion of words alone. For example, Paul warned about those who “talk idle talk” (Titus 1:10), indicating that such people “claim to know God, but deny Him by the works” (Titus 1:16). And Jesus himself spoke harshly on this matter: “These people come near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8). But are “trash talkers” just professional fraudsters and deliberate hypocrites? Certainly these texts have wide application. They are also a warning to those of us who have slipped Negligence In the belief that if our words are good, that’s all we need to worry about. Intentional or not, hypocrisy is a very serious matter. The soundness of our faith involves much more than the sound of our words.
“All he has depends on his tongue. His religion is something to make a noise about” (John Bunyan).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
