Half-hearted Allegiance

“Rend your hearts, not your garments.”—Joel 2:13

An “army” of locusts has come into Judah, devastating the land.  The reason for such devastation is the sin of indifference, of being “neither cold or hot.”   John Piper writes: “The ultimate aim of God in sending the locust horde against his people is to secure their undivided allegiance: ‘You shall know that I, Yahweh, am your God, and there is no one else.’ Evidently, the cause of the locust plague had been the people's half-hearted allegiance. Some of their affections had gone after things other than God. He was not their all-consuming love. So he fought against his own people. For few things are more dishonoring to God and dangerous for us than love to God which is only half-hearted.”

Half-heartedness is a subtle sin that unlike overt sins —murder, adultery, gluttony, gossiping—it quietly creeps into our lives, appearing like a “false friend.” The sin of indifference veils spiritual emptiness.  We go to church, attend Bible studies, pray and tithe, hoping to maintain an appearance of devotion. “We come near to God with our mouths and honor God with our lips, but our hearts are far from God. Our worship of God is based on merely human rules that have been taught." Isaiah 29:13 (Grundmeier paraphrase)
We become experts at hiding our indifference. We tear at our garments, not at our hearts. We hope that we can mollify God with pretentious, empty confessions.

A.W. Tozer writes “I have long believed that a man who spurns the Christian faith outright is more respected before God and the heavenly powers than the man who pretends to religion but refuses to come under its total domination. The first is an overt enemy, the second a false friend.”  The panacea for indifference is all-consuming love for Christ.


Prayer:  “Lord, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face lovely.” —Song of Solomon 2:14

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