Can you recall a time when you received a gift. You unwrap the gift and discover something you have no interest in whatsoever. Suppose you hate golf, but you receive a new pair of golf balls. You may hate dancing, but you receive dancing shoes. It goes on and on. The same concept applies to our relationship with God. You may have been a church goer all your life. Perhaps you prayed long hours every day. Perhaps you’ve fasted once or twice a month. However, there is a possibility that your time and effort may have been wasted from God’s point of view. What would be the point of singing hymns in church or helping the poor if God did not receive our prayers or the effort? What is the point of wasting our valuable time? There were similar incidents when Jesus encountered the believers in his time. Back then, the church was led by scribes and pharisees. They prayed for long hours, helped others, and even fasted twice a week. They were considered to be the leaders of the Church. However, Jesus rebuked them for being hypocrites.
“for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for people to see” (Matthew 23:3–5). Pharisees and scribes were supposed to know God and help others do the same. They made God’s Law more cumbersome and onerous by adding to it. They didn’t follow God with a pure heart. In their religion, there wasn’t true worship of God; rather, it was rooted in pride.
The most important thing, the thing God sees in our hearts is our motive for our action. God will reject your actions if you do not have a good motive for God. As an example, you may have attended church and sung hymns to God all your life.However, if your deepest motive was to look ‘Holy’ in front of family, friends or colleagues, God will not accept it. As a result, there was no connection between you and God since your very act was to show others how holy you were, worshiping yourself rather than God in the strict sense. In the case of helping a poor person, if your motive was to impress people who see your good deed in order to gain respect from them, your deed would not be received by God. It is God who looks at our hearts. We are created by God, and he knows our deepest hidden motives.
How would you know if your prayers were not heard by God? As God is almighty, he can hear and acknowledge even the slightest murmur from all of us. What I meant by the word was how can we tell if God has not accepted our prayers or hymns?
Fortunately, there is a way to find out. The Christian religion differs from all other religions. The ownership of yourself remains yours in every other religion. The bottom line is that you are your own boss. However, true Christianity changes the ownership of yourself from you to God. Your life is no longer your own. God now owns your body, soul, and spirit. It is important to submit ourselves totally to God since we were originally created this way before our forefathers sinned and we have been cast out because of that. Honestly, I am struggling every day to accomplish this task, and we humans are incapable of completing it. Be assured, however, that God is able. Don’t doubt God and ask him for help. In addition to praying, you will need to do your best to accomplish the task at hand. You and God are working together to accomplish this. You will have to give your best.
Here are some examples. If your Lordship is still with you instead of God, all your prayers are going to be about you. You will tend to ask for things in this world such as more money, health, fame and respect from others. When you pray, you’re asking God to keep you as king of your own life instead of God. Like a Genie of Lamp, you’re using God.
Take a look at your prayers and motivations. The same goes for your life, if the Lordship remains with you and not with God, your life hasn’t been accepted. We Christians have a big problem with hypocrisy. There’s two faces to us. In church, we may look and act holy, but in real life we’re no better than non-believers. Your actions in church won’t be the same as your actions at school or work. While you might have a great Christian attitude at church, your actions at school or work will be terrible because you don’t give God, Jesus Christ, complete control over your life. Honestly, I’m not free from any of these either. I fight against my own ego, pride, and greed every day. There are so many times I fail, but I always try to repent and try again to overcome my selfish motives that has been pulling me to hell. Those of you starting a new relationship with Jesus, don’t give up, but ask for God’s help. If we want to be saved, we need to give God our complete Lordship. When you do this, you’ll have heaven in your heart and your spirit will be saved.