Morning Coffee With Renae

Amos 4:4-5 “Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years. Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings — boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do,” declares the Sovereign Lord.

Hmmmmm . . . Do I detect a little sarcasm here?

Yes. Yes, I believe I do.

You see, Bethel and Gilgal were sacred places. The Israelites went there to worship, and to offer their sacrifices. And all the while, they carried black, sinful hearts. My, weren’t they holy?

They weren’t the only ones who carried sin into a holy place. The great J. Vernon McGee points out that on the eve of Christ’s crucifixion, when the disciples had gathered in the Upper Room to pray, that was considered a holy place. And yet, the devil himself walked right into that Upper Room along with Jesus and the Disciples. He walked there on the legs of Judas Iscariot.

Friends, did you know the devil is a regular church attender? Yes, sir-ree. He’s there every chance he gets. And the more Biblical the preaching and teaching, the more likely Satan is to become an active member.

And the sad thing is, many of us are the very ones who invite Satan in. We offer him the best pew, and fix him a nice cup of coffee. He always looks like one of us, after all.

As a matter of fact, (though I cringe to say this) he’s the spitting, mirror image of some of us, on some days. I know it’s hard to hear, but it’s the truth. Satan walks into our churches using our own legs, if we’re not careful.

Let me explain. When we go to church, we should enter a holy place. But it is only holy if we leave our petty, sinful actions outside the door. But how many churches have you known that are a cesspool of squabbles, a virtual warzone of opposing opinions? How many churches have you attended where gossip, slander, and mean-spiritedness are the weapons of choice? Where holiness is mocked, while church members engage in covert, lude, sinful behavior?

I hope none. But for me, the number is high. I’ve attended churches where I needed emotional chain-mail just to survive Sunday School. I’ve seen esteemed members engage in behaviors that even the most un-churched people would condemn as wrong. And, I’m sorry to say, at times I’ve gotten caught up in such drama myself. And when I have, I was a willing taxicab for the Evil One, transporting him right into the very place that is supposed to be reserved for meeting with God.

Friends, go back and read Amos’s sarcasm in verses 4 and 5. Are we guilty? If so, we need to stop. We need to repent, and say we’re sorry, and ask God to forgive us. Then, we need to guard our hearts, and not allow Satan to enter our churches—or any other place for that matter—on our legs. And we need to faithfully pray for our church leaders and fellow church members, that they will guard their hearts as well.

Dear Father, Forgive me for allowing Satan to work through me. Help me to be more careful about letting him in. Help me to remain so close to You and Your righteousness that Satan will stay far away. Amen

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