Jesus quoting Isaiah: These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn’t in it. They act like they are worshipping me, but they don’t mean it. They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy. Ditching God’s command and taking up the latest fads. [Mark 7: 6-8 the MSG]

I hope this isn’t me.
I hope I am not who Jesus describes.

Would Jesus call you a fraud?

I would like to hope that even in my mistakes of acting like this, that it is not who I really am. I know I haven’t always been the greatest of example of Christ and his love. I am most certainly not a model for religion. But do I ever treat my worship as a game or a show? I am far from perfect, but I believe that Christ truly is who he says he is. I cannot deny that. But I must be authentic. I must act according to what I believe in him, not wearing a mask. Jesus has changed my life…now I must act like it.

He went on: It’s what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness- all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution. [Mark 7:20-23]

What vomit of the heart do you have?

Now I really hope this isn’t me, but I know it is. Sadly, I am guilty of having many of these pollutants in my life. I am guilty of allowing it. Jesus told the religious elite that they were frauds because they only cared about show, but he addressed everyone with the idea of polluting the self. The list above are just some of the things we each can allow in our life that can pollute and ultimately destroy who we are. It is a slow process. One time of gossiping with friends. One time of heavily making out. One time looking at porn. One time looking at a man or woman not your spouse. One time being prideful. One time…that is all it takes to give entrance to these pollutants.

I do not want these things in my life. Pollutants. They are vomit from my heart… and I need to allow for Jesus’ love to work in my life and show me how I can be the woman he is calling me to be. Someone better than that of pollution. Someone that can actually worship Christ and mean it, proving it with my lifestyle, both publicly and privately.