Day 35 Lip service - Month 2 week 5 day 7

Today’s reading (Bible in 1 year) links to reading are at the end

Genesis 49:28 - 50:26
Psalm 31
Isaiah 29:1-16
Matthew 23:1-12

1. Joseph’s brothers are worried. Jacob has died and has been buried. Joseph’s brothers come to him saying that their father charged them to ask for forgiveness and told Joseph, “We are your servants.” Whether their father actually charged them to ask for forgiveness is unimportant to this discussion, but they were clearly worried that Joseph would get even! Joseph’s response is, “Am I in God’s place?” He explains that they “meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”

What a great statement regarding judgment: “Am I in God’s place?” When we judge people, we are stepping into God’s role. Our role is not judgment! So be careful, because it is easy to judge. I judge people when I’m driving and someone makes what I believe to be a dangerous move, or when someone seems to be treating me poorly. We sometimes judge without even realizing it.

My response when I judge is confession to God and repentance (turning away) from future judgment. It doesn’t mean I no longer judge, but when I do, I confess it and turn away from it. Eventually, I will judge less and less. Remember, we’re called to love our neighbours as ourselves, not to judge them!

2. God, through Isaiah, is prophesying the defeat of Jerusalem. All of this is being brought on themselves. In Isaiah 29:13 we read, “Because these people draw near with their words and honour Me with their lip service, but their hearts are far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of rules taught by men.” (NIV translation)”

Matthew 23 talks about the same thing. Jesus says in verse 3, “Therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them,” referring to the religious leaders.  

When we moved here to Nova Scotia, we struggled to find a church that we could connect with. I want to be careful here, because there are good churches local to us, but we couldn’t connect.

We come from being part of very outward-thinking churches. The church I grew up in had a motto that stated, “World Missions First!” Translated, it meant reaching out to the world, and in so doing, you reach the local area too. For the first 35 years of my life, that is what I heard week after week. The last church we attended in Ontario was very socially conscious. It lived out the words of Jesus by loving Jesus and loving your neighbour as the driving objective. It was a very large church numerically, but it was made up of 16 sites throughout southern Ontario. Site churches engaged with their own individual community. In fact, it was so outward-thinking that many traditional churches negatively judged the church and its leadership because its style was so different - yet effective.

Both of those churches we attended were not about “lip service.” They put their actions where their mouths were. The first church raised millions of dollars annually to reach out to the world and to serve those in need, and then helped fund organizations that were already in those places. The last church we attended in Ontario reached out to various communities throughout the province with the goal of meeting local needs and loving their neighbours as themselves.

We are not called to tradition, though some church traditions can be good if they’re biblical such as regular times of corporate prayer, and regular communion. Don’t “remove” your heart from it. If a church tradition is biblical, heart-based and turns you toward Jesus, it’s good. If not, maybe it’s not helpful and the tradition should be dropped.

As for us choosing a church, the church we attend must be outward-thinking. If not, we’re willing to make the 45-minute drive to be with like-minded folks who are actively seeking to live out the two greatest commandments: Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself.

I hope you have a great day!
Steve


Comments

  1. Susan31 January 2026 at 00:51

    Powerful and well explained. Judgement or judging is a beast all of its own. Thank you for the story of finding a church as I too, was void of a church that uses the KJV and loves the Lord so much that the incredible mission they adopted is nothing shy of incredible and all for the glory of God. Their mission work, love for one another, love those who are different, discern behaviour,,outreach globally and locally I am in awe of. Amazing Grace Baptist understands its role and duty to serve our Saviour. I have fallen in love with how I’m growing in my faith and for the first time,” despite the conveniences I have or the trials I endure. Each day I wake up, I speak gratitude.for my blessings and then I do my best to be better than I was the day before. Important work! I attend faithfully now for over a year, I attend 3 services a week with the joy in my heart to listen, learn and GROW…gosh this has certainly stirred me tonight. I’m going to take better action now to undue the judging from my past and to align with those who meet your faith walk where it is in the moment. This IS why it took me so long.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Steve Pauls - Daily Readings and Thoughts31 January 2026 at 08:33

      Thank you for sharing Susan. I'm thrilled you have found a church you connect with! Gathering with other Jesus followers is critical to stay strong with today's pressures.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 15 - Week 3 Day1 Let Your Heart Rest

Today's reading Genesis 24:61 - End of 25 Psalms 14 Isaiah 12 - 13:5 Matthew 11 Thought for today (sorry but this is heavy) Today my heart is heavy.  I couldn't sleep well.  I figured that I may as well get up and do my morning reading and blog post.  So much is going on this world!  So much death.  So much war.  I long for what we read about yesterday of the eventual peace that will be in God's Kingdom.  In Psalm 14 from today's reading, we read "The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."  They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good...They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one. "  This is a Psalm of David, Israel's great king who God describes as a man after His own heart.  I think it's because David always wore his heart on his sleeve.  He was real and you see it in the Psalms he wrote.   My heart is heavy because...
Read more

Day 25 Week 4 Day 4 Green Pastures

Today's reading (Bible in 1 year) Genesis 36 Psalm 23 Isaiah 22:1-14 Matthew 17 Last evening, my wife, Sylvia, read a statement to me from a bishop in the Episcopalian church in New Hampshire.  He advised his Episcopal clergy to get their affairs and wills in order "because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable".  Sometimes, peacemaking puts one in the place where death is a possibility in the protection of the most vulnerable.  It's an ominous thing to think about. Today we read Psalm 23.  What a powerful Psalm to read in it's fullness but hopefully you just read it and I'll simply mention verse 4 where it says " Even though I walk through the valley of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me " Did you hear that?   You are with me! On November 16, 2025 my mom passed away and went to be with Jesus, 2 days before her 98th birthday.  My mo...
Read more

Day 20 - Week 3 Day 6 The Rock

Today's reading (Bible in 1 Year) - If you have not read my introduction or blog from the beginning, I felt a strong motivation to read the whole Bible in a year and discover something new each day to share. Genesis 30:25 - end of 30 Psalm 18 Isaiah 17 Matthew 13:44 - end of 13 Thought for the day We have rocks!  We live on a rocky shore and our whole property is full of rocks.  You can't dig down more than 6" anywhere on our property and not find a rock.  It's very frustrating when you're trying to dig a garden or plant a tree.  Interesting though, they shift.  Every spring, my mower finds new rock locations.  During the winter freeze and thaw and freeze and thaw and freeze and thaw (that's how it is here), the rocks in the ground shift again and again.   There is one rock on our property that does not shift!  At the shore we have a lava rock outcropping.  It's goes out about 20 ft and and at high tide, you can touch the water from it. ...
Read more