PUFFED UP CARNAL

You who sit in the pews—who keep GOD from knowing you—commit two evils.  You are more evil than the prodigal son, who committed only one evil by forsaking Me.  But you commit two evils; you forsake Me and fashion Christianity to your choosing.

“The curse of a godless man can sound more pleasant in God’s ears than the Hallelujah of the pious” Martin Luther (ref#28, p9).

“Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me…” (Jer 2:22 ESV).

“…Their lives are perpetual fashion shows…” (Matt 23:4-7 MSG).  “…they make confident assertions” (1 Tim 1:7 ESV).  “These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn’t in it.  They act like they’re worshiping me, but they don’t mean it.  They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy” (Matt 15:3-9 MSG).

“…Christians are too puffed up by a sense of what they suppose they are doing for God, to earnestly study what God has promised to do for and in His people.  They are so occupied with their fleshly efforts to ‘win souls for Christ’ that they feel not their own deep need of the Spirit’s anointing” A.W. Pink (ref#269. P6).

“…a Christian is a person who has faced realistically the problem of his own personal sin…Christianity is…a sinner’s religion” Albert N. Martin (ref#221, p4).

FATHER, we all are so susceptible to being caught in doing instead of being.  The enemy urges us toward “Christian service” projects and human nature jumps at the chance to “serve.”  This is a classic example of the cart before the horse.  Putting ourselves in relationship with You must come first.

“Whatever does not issue from waiting upon God, from depending upon the Holy Spirit, is unquestionably of the flesh” Watchman Nee (ref#33, p114).