Lip Service vs Heart Service

Someone just sneezed. What do you say? If you’re like many people, chances are you are conditioned to say, “May God bless you,” or the short form, “Bless you.” It’s a tradition that has become so prominent, that if you don’t respond with something like this, (some will say the German expression, “gesundheit,” instead), it’s borderline rude. But where does this come from?  Look what a Google search reveals:

“One of the symptoms of the plague was coughing and sneezing, and it is believed that Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great) suggested saying “God bless you” after a person sneezed in hopes that this prayer would protect them from an otherwise certain death.The expression may have also originated from superstition”

When you think about it, the use of this expression really lacks any genuine wish for someone to be blessed by God doesn’t it? It’s merely something you do to be polite, but without any genuine desire for someone to actually be blessed by God. I’m at the point that when I feel I am expected to say, “Bless you,” after someone sneezes, I go out of my way to say very deliberately, “May God richly bless you!” People are often surprised and a bit confused when I respond this way, instead of the customary way, but I’m determined not to make the name of my Lord a trivial expression that has no real meaning. Plus, it’s an opportunity to encourage others to consider doing the same.

This is one simple example of how the traditions that we are often caught up in can effectively serve to nullify the things that God would have us embrace wholeheartedly. Jesus makes the point in the passage above that superficial traditions can actually fool us into thinking we’re doing good, when in fact, we’re not. In the case of the Pharisees, the outward routine of their hand washing rituals before eating for ceremonial reasons, (not for hygiene purposes), became their unhealthy focus. It was unhealthy because their focus was centered on the superficialities of what goes into them, instead of the more profound things that can come out of them. From the passage above, Jesus provided them with a list of such profound things that they were minimizing, if not ignoring, because of their superficialness: “For from within, [that is] out the heart of men, come base and malevolent thoughts and schemes, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, adulteries, acts of greed and covetousness, wickedness, deceit, unrestrained conduct, envy and jealousy, slander and profanity, arrogance and self-righteousness and foolishness (poor judgment). All these evil things [schemes and desires] come from within and defile and dishonor the man.” (Mark 7: 21-23 AMP)

Here’s the question we need to ask ourselves: what traditions might we be keeping in our daily walk or routines that may be causing us to miss God’s real desire for us to go deeper with? To help drill down on this a little more, here are some key questions we should routinely be asking ourselves:

1.      Are my prayers fresh, passionate and without pretense? (Careful: without meaning to, prayers can become stale, repetitive or laced with expressions that are intended to be impressive, instead of genuine.)
2.      Are my motivations to go to church to look good in front of my family, friends or others, or to truly seek the presence of the Lord and to receive a Word from Him?
3.      Is the time that I spend in God’s Word something I only do when others prompt me to, or when I’m in trouble, or am I hungry enough to intentionally, routinely and meaningfully do so on my own?
4.      Am I presenting to others in a manner that pretends to be living for God, while secretly and routinely giving my heart, body and mind permission to engage in all of the selfish and ungodly desires they want to?

This is a hard list to read and answer, but let’s be honest, we’ve all been guilty of being superficial in these areas at one time or another. The good news is that the Lord is faithfully ready to forgive us, and help us to start anew, each time we ask Him to. So let’s be intentional about asking the Lord to reveal the things in our life that we have been fronting about. The things that we have either intentionally or unintentionally been too superficial about, or inappropriately dependent on, that may be leading to spiritual smugness, deluded thinking, and spiritual decay, where the enemy can take advantage of and do damage.  

Prayer:
Lord, help us to not think more of ourselves than we ought to. We can easily fall prey to the same traps that the Pharisees fell into, were it not for Your Holy Spirit and Your Word to help us. Reveal to us those areas in our lives that may be blind spots of where following traditions of men have overtaken our need to follow Your Word and Holy Spirit. We do not want to only honor You with our lips, but with our hearts. We ask this in Jesus’ magnificent name.  Amen!