Going to Jesus

Daily Thoughts

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Thought for Today
Feb. 25

"RICHLY ALL THINGS TO ENJOY", PART ONE

Paul said, "Unto the pure all things all pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled" (Titus 1:15).

Consider Job, as compared to unrighteous worshipers of God. This godly man said, "my prayer is pure" (Job 16:17). And God agreed. After Job had faithfully endured his trials, God commanded the three men who had tormented him with false accusations during his long, lonely months of affliction, to "Go to my servant Job and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering. And My servant Job shall pray for you, for him will I accept" (Job 42:8). The situation is just as Solomon taught his son, "The Lord . . . heareth the prayer of the righteous" (Prov. 15:29). But Solomon's son was also warned, "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer shall be an abomination" (Prov. 28:9). And it is the same with other acts of worship, for "the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight" (Prov. 15:8). The racket of religious ceremonies and sweet hymns is an irritating, bothersome noise in the ears of a holy God (Isa. 1:11-15).

Please notice that the worship of God can be either a good thing or an evil thing. This means that worship in itself is neither good nor evil; it is the condition of man's heart alone that determines the value of worship. To think that worship is of itself a holy thing is to misunderstand the holiness of God; it is superstitious.

Knowing this is true, here are questions that the Spirit has impressed upon me to ask you:

Should the preponderance of worship offered to God by wicked men cause the righteous to cease from worshiping God? Should the many who falsely claim to belong to God silence the testimonies of the upright? I don't think so, for the Scripture says, "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy!" (Ps. 107:2). Should the multitudes who falsely claim to have a word from the Lord cause those who have truly heard from Jesus to be afraid to speak? No, for Jesus said, "Fear them not therefore. For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in the light. And what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops" (Mt. 10:27-28). Should those to whom God has given a dream be timid about telling their dream just because there are many who falsely claim to have received a dream from God? No, for even though there were many false prophets in Israel who were confusing their own imaginations with God's voice and were "causing My people to forget My name by their dreams which they tell", God still said, "The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. And he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff [in comparison] to the wheat?" (Jer. 23:28).

I know that there are multitudes of men, especially those professing to believe in Christ Jesus, who claim to have joy in their souls, but who are also making that claim only because they know that followers of Jesus ought to have joy, not because they actually have it. Is their empty boasting any reason for those who do have the joy of heaven in their souls not to express it?

We do not cease to do right merely because there are multitudes who claim to be doing the right thing but are not. We do not refuse to enjoy the blessings of God because of the many who abuse those blessings. As an aged man, Joshua did not refuse to serve the Lord just because many of his Israelite brothers claimed that they, too, served Him, in spite of the fact that they clung to their idolatry. He told them they were wrong, that he was the one serving God and that they could not, and then he continued walking with God (Joshua 24:14).