INTIMACY OVER PERFORMANCE
“The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” Isaiah 29:13 NIV
Through our walk of faith, there are sobering moments when God confronts not just our behavior, but our motives. God is able to test and search the hearts of men, and when He spoke through Isaiah, His indictment was piercing: “Their mouths are moving, but their hearts are nowhere near Me.”
It is easy it is to become fluent in spiritual language and yet numb in spiritual affection, to substitute true communion with God for a checklist of habits — especially religious practices. It is possible to sing out of memory or emotion instead of revelation, to kneel out of duty rather than delight. The Lord in His mercy, does not expose this to shame us, but to awaken us to what He wants most — intimacy . Unlike popular deception, He is not flattered by lip service but is drawn to hearts that long for Him, even in their weakness.
Worship divorced from intimacy always decays into religion. When the heart is not engaged, worship becomes mechanical, burdensome, and empty. But when the heart returns to its First Love, even a whisper becomes a sweet fragrance in His courts.
Child of God, Jesus didn’t die so we could settle for form without fire. He tore the veil so that we could come boldly, honestly, and wholeheartedly.
Don’t let your heart grow cold while your mouth stays busy. It is the meek, the contrite in spirit and the broken before Him that are comforted and heirs of His Kingdom.
Prayer: My Father, I thank you for this word. Search my heart and show me where I’ve drifted. Strip away the noise, the motions, the things I’ve learned to do without even thinking of You. Keep the wonder and sincerity ablaze in my spirit. Teach me daily what it means to worship in spirit and in truth—not just with my mouth, but with my whole being, in Jesus name. Amen!
CI.
RELATED RESOURCES
• Matthew 15:8
• 1 Samuel 16:7
• Amos 5:21
