“But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22, NLT)
One of the things that drives people away from loving Jesus is misplaced religiosity. Religiosity is normally defined as “a strong belief or feeling”. Others define it as “the quality or state of being religious”. You might think by the definition that religiosity would be a good thing. Good Christians should have strong beliefs, right? If the religious devotion is in line with God’s will, yes. However, religious devotion can be wrongly applied. When a person cares more about how their faith appears to others than to God, their religiosity becomes people pleasing. When a Christian is more concerned with how polished a sermon is rather than how biblically correct it is, the person’s religiosity will become worldly. It is possible for a Christian to be more religious than faithful. Then, their religiosity becomes a shallow example for others to follow. When one’s beliefs become overly concerned with appearances, power, or worldly standards, the resulting religiosity is even despised by God.
To increase attendance, a church designed a promotion. Anyone in the church who attended worship every Sunday for a year was given an award. Their names would be printed in the bulletin, included in a newsletter article, and each would receive a certificate. After one year, twenty-three people were given recognition for perfect attendance. The program was so well received, the church continued the promotion another five years. At the end of five years, only one man had attended worship every Sunday for all five years. He received a special award, a certificate, and a credit card worth $25. Excited about the accomplishment, the pastor asked the man to come forward during worship on “Perfect Attendance Sunday”. After the winner was given his gifts, the pastor asked him, “Jed, how do you feel about being recognized?” The man’s response surprised all present. He said, “I’m glad we had this promotion and it was hard to make it every Sunday for five years. There were times I was tired, running behind, and even under the weather; but I still would not miss worship. Then again, some of those Sundays I may have been here more in body than in spirit. My mind wandered and I couldn’t concentrate on much of anything. I sure am sorry about that.”
Jed’s honest response hinted to a problem with the perfect attendance program. It was so easy to get caught up winning the award when your heart was not even focused on God. Some Sundays, Jed cared more about perfect attendance than about the quality of his worship. Then, Jed’s attendance was concerned more with religiosity for the award than faithfulness to God. Jed’s honesty hinted at a strong faith. However, even Jed had to admit that a perfect attendance award didn’t mean he was perfectly in tune with God every Sunday!
By going to worship, being a church member, and giving in the collection plate, it may look like you are religious. These actions may cause others to perceive that you are a faithful person. However, you could easily be religious but not faithful. You could be religious but not obedient to God. A person’s religiosity makes them appear to be godly. A person’s obedience to the will of God confirms that a person is truly faithful. It is possible to be religious without being obedient and faithful to God.
In the days of the prophet Samuel, King Saul was tasked to defeat the Amalekites. The Amalekites had been attacking Israel for years. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 describes how the Amalekites would ambush Hebrews making their exile from Egypt. Exodus 17 speaks to the Amalekites making war against Israel while traversing toward Canaan. Moses, Joshua, and all the other leaders of that era feared warring Amalekites. Saul was tasked with defeating them one final time.
When God called Saul to defeat the Amalekites in battle, it was the prophet Samuel who delivered the message. Along with the plan to defeat the Amalekites, God had one expectation: Israel was NOT allowed to take any spoils from the battle. After Saul defeated the Amalekites, he decided to take spoils anyway. God was angry at Saul’s choices. Saul was not listening to God. Saul was not being obedient. Saul was making sacrifices to God and calling out to God during battle, but Saul was not following through on God’s commands. While Saul acted religious in his leadership, he was far from obedient to God’s will.
At this moment in the history of Israel, Samuel spoke the word of God. He stated: “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22). The prophet Samuel expressed the will of God in saying that Saul’s obedience was lacking. Saul may have been following through on religious protocol, but he was not being faithful to the will of God.
Because Saul was religious but not obedient to the will of God, God rejected Saul as King. Everything fell apart for Saul a short time later.
Be careful that you don’t become more religious than obedient. If you are more concerned that your prayers sound good than are faithful, you might be more religious than obedient. If your worship feels more like an obligation than a joyful offering, you might be more religious than obedient. If your spiritual life seems more like ritual, if singing hymns does not encourage your soul, if doubts are clouding your judgment, you may be more religious than obedient.
Religiosity without obedience is like a cheerleader with no school spirit. The cheerleader may be shouting out cheers at the game, but she may not look very cheerful while doing it. AND a cheerleader without spirit isn’t very inspiring to the team. Do you understand this modern parable?
To increase attendance, a church designed a promotion. Anyone in the church who attended worship every Sunday for a year was given an award. Their names would be printed in the bulletin, included in a newsletter article, and each would receive a certificate. After one year, twenty-three people were given recognition for perfect attendance. The program was so well received, the church continued the promotion another five years. At the end of five years, only one man had attended worship every Sunday for all five years. He received a special award, a certificate, and a credit card worth $25. Excited about the accomplishment, the pastor asked the man to come forward during worship on “Perfect Attendance Sunday”. After the winner was given his gifts, the pastor asked him, “Jed, how do you feel about being recognized?” The man’s response surprised all present. He said, “I’m glad we had this promotion and it was hard to make it every Sunday for five years. There were times I was tired, running behind, and even under the weather; but I still would not miss worship. Then again, some of those Sundays I may have been here more in body than in spirit. My mind wandered and I couldn’t concentrate on much of anything. I sure am sorry about that.”
Jed’s honest response hinted to a problem with the perfect attendance program. It was so easy to get caught up winning the award when your heart was not even focused on God. Some Sundays, Jed cared more about perfect attendance than about the quality of his worship. Then, Jed’s attendance was concerned more with religiosity for the award than faithfulness to God. Jed’s honesty hinted at a strong faith. However, even Jed had to admit that a perfect attendance award didn’t mean he was perfectly in tune with God every Sunday!
By going to worship, being a church member, and giving in the collection plate, it may look like you are religious. These actions may cause others to perceive that you are a faithful person. However, you could easily be religious but not faithful. You could be religious but not obedient to God. A person’s religiosity makes them appear to be godly. A person’s obedience to the will of God confirms that a person is truly faithful. It is possible to be religious without being obedient and faithful to God.
In the days of the prophet Samuel, King Saul was tasked to defeat the Amalekites. The Amalekites had been attacking Israel for years. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 describes how the Amalekites would ambush Hebrews making their exile from Egypt. Exodus 17 speaks to the Amalekites making war against Israel while traversing toward Canaan. Moses, Joshua, and all the other leaders of that era feared warring Amalekites. Saul was tasked with defeating them one final time.
When God called Saul to defeat the Amalekites in battle, it was the prophet Samuel who delivered the message. Along with the plan to defeat the Amalekites, God had one expectation: Israel was NOT allowed to take any spoils from the battle. After Saul defeated the Amalekites, he decided to take spoils anyway. God was angry at Saul’s choices. Saul was not listening to God. Saul was not being obedient. Saul was making sacrifices to God and calling out to God during battle, but Saul was not following through on God’s commands. While Saul acted religious in his leadership, he was far from obedient to God’s will.
At this moment in the history of Israel, Samuel spoke the word of God. He stated: “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22). The prophet Samuel expressed the will of God in saying that Saul’s obedience was lacking. Saul may have been following through on religious protocol, but he was not being faithful to the will of God.
Because Saul was religious but not obedient to the will of God, God rejected Saul as King. Everything fell apart for Saul a short time later.
Be careful that you don’t become more religious than obedient. If you are more concerned that your prayers sound good than are faithful, you might be more religious than obedient. If your worship feels more like an obligation than a joyful offering, you might be more religious than obedient. If your spiritual life seems more like ritual, if singing hymns does not encourage your soul, if doubts are clouding your judgment, you may be more religious than obedient.
Religiosity without obedience is like a cheerleader with no school spirit. The cheerleader may be shouting out cheers at the game, but she may not look very cheerful while doing it. AND a cheerleader without spirit isn’t very inspiring to the team. Do you understand this modern parable?