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External Religion

by Ken Barnes  
10/17/2022 / Christian Living

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised— (Jeremiah 9:25 NLT)                              

The Lord’s greatest condemnation is for people who have an outward façade of religion but lack an inward heart transformation.

As an early teenager, I made a profession of faith, as you were supposed to do in my Church. Yet, from that time to early adulthood, it had minimal impact on my life. I grew up attending a church with perfect attendance, with Sunday school pins down one lapel and the other. I had a Sunday morning demeanor and lived like a respectable sinner the rest of the week, hiding my major indiscretions. This continued until one day, on a college campus, I came clean with God, and everything started to change.

I was a perfect example of one who outwardly portrayed religion but lacked a heart transformation, or as our scriptural reference states, “circumcised and yet uncircumcised.”  Sadly, many in the modern Church are in this spiritual state, proclaiming Christianity but not practicing it—having a form of religion by denying its power.

The validity of our Christian faith is always based on a radical choice—whether we will keep our life or lose it. If we live with one foot in the Church and one in the world, we will always have a divided heart. God is the supreme ruler of the universe, but he respects the right of his creatures to determine their destiny. God never takes more of our hearts than we give to him.

You may have been a church member your whole life and feel very little desire for God or his Word. You may be a lot like I was, possessing external religion. I am not totally what I should be today, but I am not what I was. Wholeheartedly give your life to God, hold nothing back as your own, and watch what God will do. You will never be sorry you did.

I worked for seventeen years as a missionary with Youth With A Mission. My missionary work has taken me to Mexico, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Spain, and Ukraine. I hold a Masters of Education in curriculum and instruction from Virginia Commonwealth University. [email protected]

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