SCRIPTURE: Amos 5
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
This is what the LORD says to Israel: “Seek me and live; do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. [Amos 5:4-5]
The people of Israel were very religious, just not very righteous.
They claimed to worship God, but their lifestyles and attitudes betrayed wordliness.
They did not rely on God, they relied on their idols (Bethel, Gilgal and Beersheba were hot spots for idol worship) and the immoral practices related to idol worship.
They were ‘speaking’ God, but they were not seeking God.
With their words they were pious, but their deeds were perverse and unjust.
Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph. [Amos 5:14-15]

Notice the emphasis on seeking God and seeking good.
It is not just about going through the religious motions, God wants us to be devoted to what is right and good and just and holy.
When we seek God and good, we will be blessed beyond belief.
God wants to bless us, but He cannot bless our sinful lifestyles.
The very things we desire, the very things that we cling to false gods for, are the things that God would give us, if we sought Him and goodness first.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. [Matthew 6:33]

God does not want our church attendance, or our token offerings, or our religious phrases or worship songs – God wants our hearts devoted to Him and to what is good.
Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! [Amos 5:23-24]
Do we really appreciate that this is what God values, more than all our church stuff?
God hears our Sunday morning worship songs as nothing but noise if we do not also genuinely and zealously seek Him and His righteousness, or justice.
And not just a few random acts of kindness once in a while, a devotion to justice that rolls on like a river, like a never-failing stream.

Am I devoted to seeking God in this way?
Is my christianity all about the ‘noise’ and the religious ‘fluff’, or am I devoted to what His kingdom is all about – justice, goodness, kindness, truth, etc?

PRAYER:
Lord, it’s hard to imagine that so much of what we call worship on Sunday mornings is just noise to You. Help me to seek You, and the things that matter most to You!