What else does the Lord have to say against Israel?
“I despise the pride and false glory of Israel, and hate their beautiful homes” (Amos 6:8, Living Bible paraphrase).
Was the Lord angry at the Israelites for having nice houses? No. He was angry that the “haves” could enjoy such wealth without giving a thought to those around them who were needy. He hated the “pride and false glory” of the Israelites.
The Israelites were proud of the fact that they were God’s chosen people. They thought themselves above others and, in spite of countless disciplines, continually set themselves smugly upon a pedestal, thus enthroning themselves in their “pride and false glory” and dethroning the very One who chose them and set them apart.
How often I hear a Christian talk about how foolish the Israelites of the Bible were to treat the Lord as they did. And yet look at us Christians. We go to church if the wind’s blowing in the right direction or if it’s not blowing at all. We crawl to work with our noses dripping and our eyes watering; but if little Susie even has a sniffle Sunday morning, the entire family has to stay home and help her recover.
We can quote more of what The View or Judge Judy has to say than we can Scripture. We slap those fish emblems onto the rear of our cars and then break the speed limit; run traffic lights; cut people off in traffic; and in general, show people that Jesus Christ hasn’t done much of anything to make us different from the unbelievers.
We live in “beautiful homes” that are mortgaged and re-mortgaged up to our eyeballs. We manage to scrape up that big payment each month, but return little or no money to the Lord through our churches or even through organizations who help those less fortunate.
Folks, until WE aren’t the center of our attention, CHRIST can’t be who He’s supposed to be in our lives. And until people see Him as the center of our lives, they aren’t going to see Him at all – they’re going to see messed-up people with wrong priorities who give unbelievers a totally wrong impression of what the Christian life is all about.
You’ve heard this expression before, but bring it down to you and you alone: YOU’RE the only Jesus some may ever see. What does your life tell others about Him?
Unless otherwise stated, all Scripture is from the New International Version (NIV).
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