Was it for Me?

Scripture:-

“Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests. Tell them, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months throughout these seventy years, were you really fasting for me? Was it for me? Rather, when you eat and drink, it’s just to please yourselves, isn’t it? Zechariah 7:5-6

“In the past the Lord Almighty said, ‘Administer true justice. Let everyone show mercy and compassion to his brother. Don’t oppress widows, orphans, foreigners or poor people. Don’t plot evil against each other.’  But they wouldn’t listen, they stubbornly turned their shoulder away and stopped up their ears, so that they wouldn’t have to hear it. Zechariah 7:9-11

Observation:- In the first Scripture, we see a message from the Lord through Zechariah challenging the people “all your fasting and mourning and ceremony – was it really for Me, or is it just to please yourselves?” Today, many of us go to church, give lip service at worship, grudgingly give some offering, and try to stay awake during the sermon, even serve a little here and there, but the Lord asks the same question of us. Are you really doing all that you are doing for Me? Are we doing what we are doing just out of a sense of duty? Have we forgotten the main purpose of our Christian lives? Was it for God? Was it for Jesus? Or just to please ourselves? Our relationship with God always comes first. If we don't have a heart that sincerely wants to please God, to know Him, to love Him, all that we do is meaningless and a dreaded duty, a form of religion without true meaning.

In the second Scripture, the Lord reminds us of what is important to Him. The administration of true justice. People showing love and compassion to each other. People caring for the poor and needy, even the foreigners in their midst. Throughout Scripture, the Lord has always had a deep concern for the poor and needy,the marginalized and weak. In our country, there are many foreigners. Many of us treat them like a scourge, unwanted, and undesired. Did we know that the Lord loves them too?

Application:- Desire in our hearts to tell God – what I do, Lord, I really do it for You. It is You I seek.It is you I long to please. Examine our attitudes in regard to the poor and the alien in the land. Ask God for a heart of love and compassion for them, regardless of race, religion or nationality.

Prayer: Praise You, Father in Heaven, for Your great love to me. O Lord,let all I do,really be for You. This is the desire in my heart! I don't want to go to church as a duty, or serve You out of obligation. I really want to do all I do for You, O Lord. Give me a new heart, a new Spirit in You, I pray. Give me a heart of compassion like You have,Lord Jesus,to love even the poor, the marginalized, the alien in the land. You are Lord and God, worthy of all praise. May Your name be praised forever. In Jesus name, Amen.