James 1:

22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only.

23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone who looks at his own face in a mirror.

24 For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.

We’ve seen them. We’ve been them. We’ve known them. The one who attends church, then once it’s over they live life like the rest of the world with little to no regard for what they were taught or God’s will in their life. They forget as soon as they walk away. They are unaffected.

As I write this, I am struck with the gravity of this way of “walking with God”. With only church attendance and maybe the occasional reference to God in conversation or a meme on Facebook, this person has a false sense of security in their relationship with God. “I go to church every Sunday.” But what they are receiving is having no effect.

Think of a marriage. If you sat down one day a week and talked with the one you love, or simply listened to what they had to say, gave them a kiss and went on with your week without any contact or consideration of what they shared, your marriage would suffer greatly. Your spouse would become a virtual stranger to you. Love and trust can’t grow that way.

Christianity is a relationship with God. It’s not a duty, a habit, or an obligation. If we are truly walking with God, we want to know Him. We want Him to know us. We need intimate times of sharing our hearts and listening for His. We search His word allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal truths to us that our human eyes can’t see.

We do not want to hear, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” (Matt. 7:23)