Proper Lip Service

These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. "They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men” (Matthew 15:8, 9).

You’ve heard people say:

• “Talk is cheap.”
• “He’s just giving lip-service.”
• “Put your money where your mouth is.”

I learned these from my mom and these sayings are all just ways to express that the words you speak have little value if they are not followed up with action.

Even more importantly, God is interested in the sincerity of our hearts rather than our words.

God sees our hearts; He knows our thoughts; He knows the attitudes and motivations behind our actions.

When we say we love God, but haven’t surrendered our will to Him, we are just like the Pharisees He addressed in these verses from Matthew (also in Mark 7:6, 7).

The Pharisees had become caught up in the rules they had created for daily life. Their worship of God became an opportunity to show everyone how well they followed the rules. Thus, rather than worshipping God, they were merely glorifying themselves. By focusing on their outward conduct they forgot that unlike men, God looks at the heart:

• “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
• “God does not judge by external appearance” (Galatians 2:6).

Let us be mindful of the fact that our words are meaningless to God if they don’t reflect a heart that is seeking Him.

There is no greater pleasure to God than when his children’s words match their lifestyle. Let’s be a people that “practices what they preach” and “puts our money where our mouth is”. Let’s give him proper lip service: our words matching our actions!