A Lesson from Amos on . . . Well, Being a Christian!

Imagine we're in church, and it's a Sunday morning.  They worship music has just started.  You know, you kind of like to sing, but mostly you like to listen to the music.  This week though, as you're looking around, you notice that some of the people around you are raising their hands, closing their eyes, singing at the top of their lungs (and not caring that they sound just a little bit off-key).  You see your parents do the same thing -- close their eyes, get a very peaceful look on their face -- and to your shock, even some of your friends do the same thing!  Not wanting to be the one who does nothing, you decide to raise one hand and close your eyes, thinking "I don't want them to think I'm not paying attention.  I better do this too . . . this feels weird."  If you do those things, are you worshipping God?

Here's the deal: God wants realness.  He wants you to worship Him and sing to Him "out of the overflow of your heart," as the Bible tells us.  He desires your love; He wants you to want Him.  What He does not want is fake stuff.  In the little-known book of Amos, one of the "minor prophets" in the back of the Old Testament, the Bible says that God actually hates our fake "worship."  It says,

"I despise your religious festivals . . . Away with the noise of your songs!  I will not listen to the music . . ."

Now, that doesn't mean God never wants to hear us sing songs of worship -- in fact, He loves them!  (I know, this may seem confusing, but bear with me.)  What He hates is when that music and when those songs are just "songs" that have no real meaning.  If we're just singing or playing just to make some music to fill up some time at the beginning of church and after the pastor's done preaching, then what's the point of that?  Nothing!  It's pointless!

See, God doesn't want a lot of showyness in our Christianity.  Instead, as that verse in Amos goes on to say, He wants justice to "roll on like a river" and for "righteousness like a never-failing stream!"  That means He wants our actions, our whole lives, to be a continual act of worship -- notice the phrase "roll on," meaning that it doesn't stop, and "never-failing," which means (obviously) that it never fails to be!

So that's my challenge to you this week.  Are you guilty of faking your way through Sunday school, your devotions, your daily prayers, and really, your whole Christian life?  Then change that today.  Get real with God.  Believe me, He's not fooled by anything fake that we try to give Him.  He wants and only receives the real deal.