“And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.

— 1 Chronicles 28:9

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

— Hosea 6:6

And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, while their hearts are far from Me, and their fear of Me is a commandment taught by men

— Isaiah 29:13

1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy

— 2 Timothy 3:1-2

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

— Colossians 3:23-24

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and salvation from Christ to you.

Self-absorption is a by-product of humanity’s fall into sin. It deeply infects our approach to everything and everyone in our lives. We can easily do the right things for the wrong reasons. Even God-ordained disciplines can become rote exercises devoid of heart connection with Him. Maintaining a checklist of prescribed behaviors makes us feel successful and appeals to our pride. A system we can control and calculate seems easier than wholehearted surrender to a God who is beyond us in every way. Serving God involves much more than going through the motions and adhering to a religious system.

We are all invited to consider God’s eternal plan of establishing us well to richly enter His glorious kingdom. God desires that His people go forward in faith and obedience steadily. Promising future blessings, God calls us to seek Him, not through external formalities but from the heart. God calls us believers out of empty religion into a vibrant relationship with Him. He desires spiritual reality, not superficial rituals. God has great things in store for us as we humbly serve Him and others to be approved good and worthy servants and He wants us to see Him as He is on that day when we meet Him face to face in the light of His glory.