Shallow:

A number of the recurring issues in the church have to with a failure to distinguish the inside from the outside. I used to think that the seemingly endless arguments and posturing about music and standards and translations of the Bible, etc. would finally just die off. I take no joy in saying that my expectation was based on a failure to adequately reckon on the tendency of we humans to get it wrong. Given the choice most people will choose the surface and shallow over the real any day.

We just looked at the first part of Mark 7 this past Sunday. The religious leaders of Jesus day thought that the secret to being right with God and having the fullness of blessing that He desires to give us is to focus on a maddening tangle of external dos and don'ts. Jesus pointed to the heart.

I see the tendency in my day all over the place. There are important discussions to be had about songs, how we dress, and the accuracy of translations of God's word. Unfortunately those discussions usually go undiscussed. The conversation pretty well stops at the surface. Often, in the final analysis it comes down to what I like and what I'm used to. But I see the tendency in other ways as well. For some it is smells, as in incense, bells and chants, and stained glass and spires. Whether there is substance, or what the substance is, is seldom considered. Rather folk seek the holy-awe, with the same thoughtless intensity that others seek the holy-buzz through their frenetic activity.

Those who worship the Lord must worship in "spirit and truth." We are to love Him with "all our heart, soul and mind."

That which is only on the surface won't do.

It's STTA.