Proverbs 28

Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.  

Proverbs 28:14

How much do you respect God? Christians are so used to lip-service holiness that they don't question their true devotion to God. Pretending to care about biblical living isn't the same as fearing the Lord. It's easy to give an impression by acting, but no acting gets past God because he knows us. In this world we are constantly distracted. Who even has time to stop and seriously consider how he's doing spiritually? Living busily contents Christians while their symptoms of spiritual disorders get ignored. How often do you get alone in a quiet place, no noise, no distractions, and check with God to see what he thinks of your spiritual health? I've noticed people get too busy being concerned with the thoughts of others while underestimating and ignoring the wisdom that comes from fearing the Lord. 

Is your heart fearing God or being hardened? Do you like how your life is going in the Lord? Are you a growing Christian? If not, you probably need to fall on your face before God and ask him to forgive you for being a stagnate Christian, then start making changes.  Ever since the beginning we have been involved in this battle that includes yielding our wills to God's will. When people lack respect for God, it shows up in their lives as self- centered choices. Then when lost people watch our lives, they don't respect God either because they view the 'Christian' as hypocritical, saying one thing but living differently. That's confusing.  Instead of respect, they chalk it up to another one of those 'religions.' The Pharisees were hypocrites. They maintained an outward sense of 'holiness' but that's as far as it went.  In fact, Jesus called them not only hypocrites but likened them to whited sepulchers which appear beautiful outwardly but inwardly are full of uncleanness and dead men's bones.  The Jews would whitewash these sepulchers so people could view them from afar and be careful not to touch them so as to not make them unclean for the holy days. And this is what Jesus likened the pharisees to. Do you know people like this today? I do, and it's sad because I've talked to unsaved people who watch these so-called Christians live opposite of the name. Unfortunately, these unsaved people don't have a good opinion of God. This is the saddest thing to me, and friend, we need to be on high guard against becoming this kind of person. How does we prevent it? Start by getting your heart right with God and letting go of your pride. Fear God. Submit to his will and way. Stop focusing on pleasing others while forgetting about pleasing God. Remember that if you truly desire to change, God will help you. 

Proverbs 8:13 ~ "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride and arrogancy and the evil way and the froward mouth do I hate."