Originally posted at: http://www.theresstillhope.org
Amos 5:21 “I hate, I despise your religious festivals.”
Steven Stoffelsen, founder of House of Refuge Street Ministries, writes, “God doesn’t want us to only know about him. He doesn’t want us to think of him as a cruel ruler that we can only come to if we have been really, really good. Rather, the privilege of getting to know him is ours. Consequently, as we get to know him, the more we will understand his goodness. And the more we understand his goodness, the more we will fall in love with him.”
Since the days of Amos, we have often fallen into the trap of worshiping the form instead of the substance. We make a god of the ritual, or religious festival.
Religious activities are not the end; they are the means to the end. Keep your eyes on Jesus, not the ritual.
Recovery Step: Hold no idols. Not even recovery. Set your eyes on the God of the ritual, not on the ritual of the God.
