Ineffective Witness

“Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.” (Isa 42:20 AV)

This had been a problem with Israel for centuries.  Right up to and including the time of Christ.  Jesus addressed it with the Pharisees.  Paul addressed it in the book of Romans with Israel.  They taught the law as tradition, yet the seldom followed it themselves.  As long as it was passed down from one generation to another, regardless of how faithfully they followed it, it became acceptable.  This resulted in the non-Jewish world observing the hypocrisy of the Hebrews, rejecting their God in the process.  I fear our present church age has accomplished the same thing.

A few decades ago, the LORD gave me the opportunity to serve as a hospital chaplain.  One of the perks was the free use of the cardio work-out room.  Treadmills, rowing machines, stationary bikes, and free weights were available with no charge.  They even provided a trainer who would guide us through the process of improving our health.  There were times that I used this facility after hours.  After my rounds were complete, down to the exercise room I would go.  It was nice.  No one there.  I could watch what I wanted to watch while rowing to nowhere.  I could listen to the right kind of music while lifting a mountain twenty pounds at a time.  What struck me as ironically humorous though, was seeing the health care providers on a smoke break.  They would come out the back door and light up for twenty minutes.  These were the same professionals that cared for the sick.  These were the same professionals that would chasten the sick for their poor lifestyles which would result in a hospital stay.  These were the same people who gave advice and often the needed discipline to assist in the patience improved health all the while sucking in cancer causing smoke.  How ironically sad.

But you know?  This is the same thing we do when we share our faith with others all the while living in unconfessed sin.  We hold up the righteousness of Jesus Christ as our standard (as we should) without striving for it.  We preach and teach godly behavior as profitable for a blessed life, yet ignore it in our own personal choices.  When the people of God (or, so called) are living in sin, filing for divorce, enjoying alcohol, falling to drug use, or taking their own lives at the same rate the non-churched are, it is telling.  We preach one thing, but in our actions, reveal just what we are.  No better than the nation of Israel that treated their faith as a tradition and not as the manner and way of life.