“Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light.”
Amos 5:18 (NIV)
Woe to me if I am ‘religious’ and not righteous.
Three “there are those who” phrases in this chapter that we should examine ourselves against;
vs 7 turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground
vs 10 hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth
vs 12 oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts
We would rather dwell on being called salt then on what happens to salt that loses its saltiness, for it gets thrown away.
The message of Amos 5 is that the people of Israel who long for the Lord to appear, will be thrown away on that Day.
They will be thrown away because of the lack of righteousness and justice in their lives.
They are going to church- very religiously.
Doing their ‘religious’ thing, pretending they are pleasing God, but actually angering God.
God says – Stop the beautiful music!” and make justice and righteousness prevalent in your lives.
God’s work of grace in my heart is revealed by how I treat others around me.
How I treat others around me reveals whether or not Christ dwells in my heart.
May we be righteous and not ‘religious’.
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