KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Relationship
IT IS VERY fashionable today to affirm a relationship with God while denying such a relationship by one's manner of life and conduct...
Knowing God is more than mere lip service and wearing a gold cross on a chain around our neck. The words of 1 John 2:3-6 clearly define what it takes to truly know God, "And hereby do we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked."
Some members of the Lord's church are guilty of affirming their love for God while denying it by their actions. They profess to love God with all of their heart, soul, strength and mind and then fail to attend all of the services. They sing that they want to be workers for the Lord and then spurn every opportunity afforded unto them to prove it. We must realize that God sees through all of our hypocritical masks and knows how we really feel about Him (Psa. 33:13-15; Heb. 4:13; John 2:24-25). More important than wearing a gold cross around our necks is our responsibility to bear the cross we have been called by Christ to bear ( Luke 9:23). Rather than denying God by our works, let us deny ourselves (Matt. 16:24). Let us avoid saying one thing and doing another (B. J. Clarke).
KneEmail: "They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work" ( Titus 1:16; cf. Matt. 15:8).