Then God Said...

 We give careful attention to spiritual formation because we have learned, from long experience, how easy it is to get interested in ideas of God and projects for God while at the same time losing interest in God alive, deadening our lives with the ideas and projects. It is the devil's work to get us worked up in thinking and acting for God and then subtly detach us from a relational obedience and adoration, substituting our selves, our god-pretentious egos, in the place originally occupied by God. -Eugene H. Peterson Within Christendom there can be a tension between faith works and an intimate relationship with God. Some camps even seem to put these ideas at odds with each other; however, there should be both in our lives. Often times, many of us find ourselves on either side: works or relationship. Reality is, it should not be an either/or but a both/and situation for us. We should be in relationship and doing faith works. Relational Intimacy with God God desires nothing m...

So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets... When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men... And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words... Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do , for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men -Matthew 6:2,5,7, 16 NASB Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. -Matthew 23:27-28 (NASB) Jesus is identifying a type of person in these passages--a hypocrit...