Day 2170 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.


Matthew 15:8 NIV

This is one of those verses that just sounds scary. It's one of those statements that I don't ever want to hear Him say to me. Kind of like, "I never knew you." Can't really think of anything more terrifying than hearing our God say something like that. It seriously lights this fire to do the very best I can do to be the best person I can possibly be!

It really goes along with my post yesterday about focusing on the rules but forgetting the relationship part. Our hearts need to be glued to God. They need to be completely set on following His plans, living His will, studying His word, and cutting loose anything that keeps us from doing so. There are so many things that distract us in life. But when you think about the horror of being told to leave because He didn't know us, it really helps put into focus what truly matters!

Our minds and mouths are powerful things. They can spin things in just the right way to convince ourselves and others that we're something we're really not. We can say the right things. We can lie to ourselves and think that we're better, stronger, or less ashamed than we are. But until we realize all those lies and facades are only holding us back then we can never truly grow and move closer to God.

We have to learn to cut through the nonsense. Stop the lies. Stop trying to convince ourselves that we're perfect and have nothing to fix in our lives. We're all sinners that are far too prone to messing stuff up. Every single one of us can improve. We all have these cracks and crevices where darkness and lies can seep in. Each of us have left doors open for sin to sneak back into our lives.

If we ever want to truly do better and never risk hearing God say that He never knew us or that our hearts were never His then we have to stop fooling ourselves. We need to cut the lies and be honest. We need to quit convincing ourselves that we're better than we are and actually focus on getting right with Him. Saying all the right things will never be enough if our hearts aren't behind it.

The whole purpose of this journey is to grow as close to God as we can become. Letting any lie, any nonsense, any distraction prevent that will only come back to bite us in the end. Don't risk that!

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