By: Obed Pineda
It is said that one day Satan summoned all his minions because he had become irritated with the havoc that love was bringing about in his kingdom of darkness. The patience of the devil had vanished and he had decided that love had been preventing souls from reaching his realm for far too long, and it needed to be dealt with. Thus, he summoned his subjects and declared to them that whomever could provide a solution to defeating love, he would reward him the privilege to be his right hand on the throne. Lust, hatred, wrath, jealousy, greed, deceit; all of them tried to assassinate love and failed. Betrayal, resentment, covetousness, gossip, obstinacy, and doubt failed to conquer love as well and Satan’s right hand remained vacant. Having witnessed some of his mightiest fall in battle to love, the devil began to believe that love was truly unconquerable and was ready to concede defeat. As he was about to notify his subjects that the war with love had been lost, an old, frail being wearing a dark cloak that concealed his countenance raised his hand and asked to be allowed one final assault on love. Protests began to rise from the audience, claiming that if the strongest were unable to defeat love, surely a frail, old being would utterly fail. Yet, perhaps out of desperation, the devil allowed the mysterious being to go and wage a final assault against the formidable foe. A great amount of time had passed since that day and the cloaked figure had not yet returned to the obscure realm, making the Ancient Serpent assume that it, too, had been obliterated by love. While he was deep in thought, a jubilant commotion startled him and he went to see what had sparked the joyous cries from his minions. When he arrived to the source of their celebration, he was astonished by what his eyes beheld. The frail, cloaked being had returned, and in his arms he carried love deceased. Puzzled by the fact that this elderly, frail being was victorious, the devil asked him, “Who are you?” Promptly the being removed his cloak, revealing a frigid and emotionless face, and responded, “I am the monotonous routine.” The inspired Micah asks, “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul” (Micah 6:6-7)? Micah’s query sagely reveals the proper attitude that man should display upon approaching the throne of God always. His reverence for the High God and his desire to please Him is genuine and not simply a formality. It is certainly true that there are many challenges and threats to a man’s devotion toward God, but perhaps the most lethal presents itself in the form of formalism. When a person practices a religious observance out of formality and because it is what has been established, the key ingredient that makes that sacrifice pleasant, and acceptable, in the presence of God is missing. Lavish gifts brought as offerings to the Almighty or external displays of religious devotion do not honor the Omnipotent. The Lord vehemently rejected Israel’s formalities decrying, “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream” (Amos 5:21-24). Amos’ inspired words twin the admonishment of the prophet Samuel toward a disobedient Saul who sought to appease Jehovah God by offering the very best of the plunder and animals that God had commanded them to destroy (1st Samuel 15:10-23). The idea that God can be pleased with an outward sacrifice or an external obedience has unfortunately always dominated the hearts of humanity. The mentality of following God’s commandments because it must be done, absent of the desire or love of wanting to do so, is the epitome of the sin of unreality. It is important to clarify that to be guilty of this sin does not necessarily mean that it is being practiced with a hypocritical heart. A person may also be guilty of this sin even if they are being sincere in their service. The issue that plagues their worship is that they place a higher value on the external practice of religious observances, ceremonies, or rites above the inward, spiritual fruits that obeying these commandments should have. What distinguishes them from the hypocritical is that they are really making the attempt to give God their very best and not so that man can laud them for their devotion. The error is that because they have limited their worship to the outward practice of the acts of worship, it becomes mechanical, soulless, and serves no purpose. Although he is not doing it to be seen and praised by man, he is also not gaining the spiritual blessing that springs from worshiping God in spirit and in truth (cf. John 4:23-24, 1st Corinthians 14:6-19) . It was this exterior approach to our Creator that Paul referred to when he declared at Athens, “I perceive that in all things you are very religious” (Acts 17:22). It is evident that Paul was not condoning idolatry, but instead was exposing the problem with a superstitious devotion, or vain worship. Remember that they were even offering reverence to “THE UNKNOWN GOD” and Paul confirms that they were worshiping Him without knowing Him (Acts 17:23). His acknowledgment of their faithful adherence to their idols as a form of worship, proves that it was not done so in hypocrisy. They genuinely believed that in making elegant and luxurious temples for their gods was the correct way to honor them. They trusted that this would secure the material blessings of the gods and prevent their wrath from befalling them. Regrettably, today (even in the body of our Lord) there are many who have an earnest zeal for devoting their lives to God, but are tracing the Athenian paradigm of worship. Those who do, fall into the mistake of believing that by simply attending worship service, singing along with everyone, not falling asleep during the sermon, and giving of their monies is sufficient to achieve an acceptable sacrifice. However, what dissolves this illusion is when the absence of spiritual growth is discovered, thus revealing an illusory worship. The beauty of what God has established as His worship is that it also serves the purpose of blessing the worshiper with spiritual maturity and inward strength. Therefore, let us beware the sin of unreality.