DECEMBER 15, 2025

 “If you think you can stand to know what you’re made of, try kneeling before God.” 

― Craig D. Lounsbrough

AMOS 4-6

I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them...Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of our harps. (5:21-23)

REVELATION 6

You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on earth. (5:9-10)

JOURNAL 

The more I read Scripture, the clearer it becomes that God is not impressed by activity divorced from surrender. It is not the actions themselves that move His heart, but the heart behind them. In Amos, God speaks with unsettling clarity to a religious people who were busy, disciplined, and outwardly faithful, yet inwardly far from Him: “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies… Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps” (Amos 5:21–23). Their worship was loud, their calendars full, but their hearts were not His.

That warning feels uncomfortably current. I see it not only in churches and religious gatherings, but in myself. When my actions are no longer grounded in obedience, humility, and love for God, I am no different from those addressed in Amos. The danger is subtle. Habits replace devotion. Customs replace conviction. Time eventually reveals the truth. Words and rituals can only mask the heart for so long. The real question is whether my life is sold out to self or surrendered to God.

This tension becomes especially visible during Christmas. It is easy to confuse motion with meaning. Parties, presents, traditions, services, and songs can all happen without ever pausing to consider the One they are meant to point toward. Revelation pulls the curtain back and reminds me what true worship looks like. Heaven is not impressed by performance, but by sacrifice. “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9–10). Christ did not come for ceremony. He came to redeem hearts.

So my prayer is simple and searching. Father, help me remember that it is not the gifts, the gatherings, the candlelight services, the tithes, or the traditions that matter most. What matters is whether my heart is surrendered to You and whether that surrender flows into love for others. Strip away anything in me that is religious but hollow, polished but disconnected from obedience.

Your Word says it plainly: “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways” (Proverbs 23:26). That is the offering You desire. Everything else must flow from there.

26My son, give me your heart

and let your eyes delight in my ways,

PROVERBS 23:26