Saturday, April 18, 2020

Do You Deceive Your Own Heart?


Do you SEEM to be religious?

Do others who know you think you might be religious?

Are we supposed to seem religious?

What does it mean if someone who knows us doesn't consider us religious?

Barring wearing a sign that says we are religious- or some sort of religious paraphernalia, religious associated clothing, hair style, etc, how are others supposed to know we are religious?

Strip away all outward show and only wearing what could be considered generic non-branding clothing and such, no one would be able to tell just by looking if we are religious or not.  We could line up a whole group of people and simply by looking at them not know if they are religious.

The opposite side of this coin maybe lining up a whole group of people dressed in various religious garb, adornments, and whatnot and do you know not a single one of those people may be truly religious- it could be all for show, not a heart religion at all.

Seeming religious.

We can seem religious in various ways. If I notice someone praying I will then assume they are religious. If I see someone carrying a Bible, I'll again, assume they are religious. If I hear someone singing a religious song I'm definitely going to make the assumption of their being religious.

If I meet a kind person I might suspect they are religious. However, if I meet an unkind person I will most definitely not believe they are religious (even though they could be, and just having a bad day).

God tells me this--

Jas 1:26  If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

Vain religion.

Is it possible there is a lot of vain religion? I believe there is.

I know I do NOT want to deceive my own heart! Yet my tongue, my wicked, wicked tongue needs bridling!

We can deceive our own hearts. Make no mistake, it is entirely possible for us to deceive ourselves.

If you had the opportunity to step out of your own life and look at yourself as others view you, what do you suppose you might see?  

By our fruits we are known.

Strangers might only see the fruit of our goodness, our generosity, our soft spoken words, our helpfulness in a single act.

People who know us well will have seen the bruised fruit and have experience with our not so good traits.

People who know us the best, well, they will have witnessed the rotten fruit of our lives.

God knows us best of all, better than a human being, better than ourselves. God sees all the fruit- the good, the slightly spoiled and the completely rotten fruit of our lives. God knows our heart. Is it any wonder we need to pray for Him to create a clean heart in us?

A really good barometer of our seeming religious is our ability to bridle our tongue.

Jas 1:26  If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

I don't want to have a vain religion. I do NOT want to seem religious to myself or anyone else if it is a vain religion I'm living. I don't want my own heart deceived! Please Lord, teach me to bridle my tongue!

Luk_6:45  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

Let my mouth speak good, not evil! Please, Lord, I can't create in myself a clean heart, but you can create in me a clean heart, please…create a clean heart in me right now.

All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, now and forever and ever!!!!!!!

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