Saturday, April 24, 2010

Lip Service



I love God. Very much. Atleast that is what I have been telling people for as long as I can remember. Amazing then how my life song doesn't sing the same lyrics.

Amazing how I say I believe the Word with all my heart....and then wake up everyday, anxious and afraid for the future, unmindful of the 365 "Fear Not"s in the Bible.

Amazing how I can write a blog post on how fearfully and wonderfully made I am.....and yet carry a truckload of insecurities on my back.

Amazing how I say God is my highest priority and that nothing but nothing can come before Him....and yet find it hard to keep my cellphone aside when I should be in His presence, worshipping Him alone.

Amazing how I can pray "Lord, let your will be done"....and yet keep my foot in a door that He is trying to close.

Amazing how I know every hymn and Gospel chorus about the cleansing, healing power of the Lamb's blood....and yet find it next to impossible to curb my temper and lashing tongue.

Amazing how I have been a knowledgeable Scriptural quiz mistress for ages....and yet cannot bring to mind an appropriate verse to comfort, strengthen and encourage myself when I need it.

Amazing how I teach my Youth Fellowship to depend on nothing but the Word of God....and yet prefer to play Farmville rather than set apart time for Bible reading and devotions everyday.

Amazing how I shout out that Job 13:15 is my life's motto....and yet crib and complain of unfair treatment from the Lord everyday.

Amazing how I describe my life's ambition as to become Christ-like....and yet not even those closest to me can see a trace of His holiness and love in my character.

Amazing how I preach Galatians 2:20 so vociferously....and yet fight ferociously to keep my pride and feed my ego.

Amazing how I project myself as a person of the highest levels of integrity....and yet cannot honestly acknowledge my faults even to myself.

Amazing how I claim to love Him with all my heart....and yet (as I can now see), do not.

Diagnosis: I've gotta be the world's greatest hypocrite and one that has hidden it amazingly well, even from myself! The good news is, the scales have dropped from my eyes.

So what now? Am I going to keep up appearances and continue fooling myself, my friends and my social circle? Am I going to keep churning out beautiful writing that so artfully hides my spiritual imperfections from the world? Am I going to stay blind to the powerlessness of Christ's resurrection power in my pathetically hypocritical life? Am I going to keep insulting my omniscient God with meaningless and fraudulent lip service?

I don't think so. I think it's time. Time to be hard on myself. Time to face up to the half-heartedness of my beliefs. Time to acknowledge and repent for the skin-deep faith I have exhibited. Time to take life by the horns and stand up solidly and relentlessly for everything I have professed to believe in thus far.

Reader, if you've been here, done this, then you know what the plan of action is too. I emphatically suggest you don't waste any more precious time lamenting that God hasn't blessed your holy living. Do yourself a favour and take a long, hard look at your heart-attitude.

Beautiful words that express your faith and a vague good intention to live up to those words in the distant future, do not worship make. Instead, get down and dirty and let your life do all the speaking in place of your lips. In other words, just walk the talk. dude. For only then will you see God's faithfulness shine in your life, like the Pole star on a dark and stormy night. God bless!

Matthew 7:3-5 - "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

18 comments:

ezra said...

nice post sis..liked the way you ended...ofcourse many of us do lip service in our lives..but not much ppl would've realised this..hope everyone does when they read this (as me too did) ...

Vishwak Avanan said...

I liked the statements of confession (if i can say so). Not really many speak loud even at the point of realization, i don't do that either.
Overall! i liked the blog. Of all the things posted... i think i liked this d best as it was very original of expression and not flowered with words.

Unknown said...

Hey Lavee...
Before posting my comment,let me intro myself.I'm Daniel from chennai.
The way you describe the story is really awesome i am one of the silent reader and fan of your blog.
I think Almighty spoke with me today with this hypocrite message..I'm the Pastorate youth Lead for(8 churches)I used to steal your narration and develop it as msg to ma youth fellowship.but I never been so worth to that..I admit I do all nonsense of my age..I feel ashame..

I should have a turn now..sure I lost my promotion in ma offz.I wonder how and now I got the answer for that...I lost all blessings that god had for me.

Got touched by this message..
you rocks Lavee..

Hannah Lauvanya said...

@Ezra: Thank you Ezra...it took me many years to discover this and a year to start writing again...am glad however that God was able to use this post to bring realisation to readers like you, quickly.

Hannah Lauvanya said...

@Vishwak: Very true...this post came from the deepest, darkest part of my heart where I had never allowed God's holy light to shine before...that's why the impact was high I guess...praise God!

Hannah Lauvanya said...

@Danny: Hey Danny, it's good to meet you. First off, please don't apologise. My posts are for the use of all God's people and as long as it is not being used commercially, I can only say am honoured that you lifted it!
About your job, I'm sorry you didn't get promoted. But I would say it's God's way of getting your attention. He isn't punishing you, just gently correcting your heart-attitude. Guess He's accomplished it also! Anyways, I'll be praying for you, your ministry and ur career...pls do keep visiting! God bless!

Unknown said...

Thanks alot Lavee!!

Manoj said...

Hey Lavee,

Go easy on yourself. That is called being human and lord made it that way. So relax, enjoy the imperfections which is you and send a silent prayer everytime you have such revealations.
and when you do, may god have mercy on us :-P

R Chaitanya said...

Nice post.. are yu a pastor or somethin?? jus curious while browsing thro fb somehow gt this blog read the blog sounds pretty good...

Anonymous said...

Finally you heeded to my advice to post something..Hope you'd have done sooner though!

I hate to bring you to the ground realities but its fair that I do so!

As soon as I read the post it reminded me of how even while acknowledging that you're an hypocrite, you deftly played with your words yet again to take the limelight away!

Time to make some real change dear! You don't have to publish this. But you know where to reach me just in case you need help!

Gbu!

p.s: keep writing!

Jinu said...

Nice one,
Keep writing for his glory,
God Bless you :)

Sam said...

Hi,

I wish I commend you in front of your parents and our relatives. These Blogs totally changed my opinion of the, so called, "rollicking Hannah". I or probably none of our relatives, ever knew that there is such a classical and a spiritual personality hiding in you. I thank God, for such a deep understanding of the love of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and for sharing the same with your pals.

I pray that God shall open your spiritual eyes, so that you dive into the abyss of Holy Bible and climb to heavenly realms. May God bless you with all good things which is ordained for you, in Jesus Christ.

Convey my regards to Uncle and aunti.

loving brother,

Henry

Kingsly said...

Thanks for the post. I wont say i loved the post. Because for sure it hurts to hear the Truth. Very good reminder!! Being transparent in our life is very difficult..the fear of what people may think has ruined most of my life. i pray that God may help that my actions and words would match..
Keep writing!!

1013799 said...

Well! I believe you are already standing up fro what you believe in. I am not saying this by reading whatever you ahve verablised. But because God looks into the heart of man. Your heart is in the rightful with the great longing for God. That's the one and only thing that qualifies before our maker.

Anonymous said...

I guess you may want to add a facebook icon to your website. Just marked down this blog, although I must do it by hand. Just my 2 cents.

Lynn said...

Hi Lavee,
Just came across your blog..nice one..I am an ardent lover of books and blogs and I totally love yours:)This post was awesome,very original and a blessing!

Anonymous said...

What happened?? no updates??

Anonymous said...

What happened?? no updates??