“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.” (Matt. 15:8)
One night, a man dreamed an angel escorted him to church one Sunday. He saw the musicians playing but heard no music. He saw the congregation singing but heard no words. When the preacher got up to preach, his lips moved but his words were silent.
The man turned to the angel and said, “I don’t understand. Why is everything muted? Why can I not hear anything?” The angel said to the man, “This is the way it sounds to us in Heaven. You hear nothing because there is nothing to hear. They would say they are worshipping but their hearts are on everything but God.”
How true that is of so many churches, today. We have become proficient at making noise, but noise is not worship.
I wonder what the angel would say about OUR church? I wonder if what they witness is a congregation of believers worshipping the Lord from our hearts, or is it only muted activity? David said, “I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation” (Ps. 111:1).
When you go to church, examine yourself and make sure you are worshipping with your whole heart. That is something God wants to hear!