What made me think about this was a song by Jon Foreman called "Instead Of A Show" (its a great song, go buy it on iTunes and listen to it). But what is even better than the song is the Scripture that it is based on. It's based on Amos 5:21-24, and it's intense (before you continue reading, I would suggest that you go read that now... http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Amos%205:21-24&version=ESV). I was listening to this song one day on my way to work and I honestly thought to myself, "i'll bet if someone played this song in a lot of churches, there would be a lot of really ticked people". It is so easy for us to get really offended or defensive when we are called out - because we don't want to be wrong. That particular passage is tough to swallow because it's telling these people that their "traditions" are NOT pleasing God. One word that really makes my stomach turn when it is used in relation to the church is "tradition". I'm NOT saying that traditions in churches are always bad, but if the reason for doing something one way or another is based on tradition then yes, I do have problems with that. I rather like some "traditions" because I love the meaning behind them. But do we sometimes frustrate the one true God that we claim to take joy in because we make worshipping and serving him a tradition rather than our reason for living?
Did you read that passage yet? It's a sobering passage isn't it? That's God speaking to his people, but honestly he could say that to a lot of us in the church nowadays couldn't he? I wonder, if we read the lyrics of that song in our communities, how many people would be offended? What if we read that passage?
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