This morning I was reflecting a bit on the importance of a personal life in God. What I mean by that is, ‘Who are you apart from public ministry settings?”

When you have a noticeable gift, people compliment. It blesses them and they want you to know about it. This feels good. Though their compliments are strengthening and encouraging, we must not let it go too far.

Back in the summer of 2004, I was part of a traveling band from North Central University, called One Accord. We traveled all over the US ministering in churches, youth camps, and high schools. It was a blast. One of the reasons it felt so good is that we were important…at least in our small bubble we were.

Kids clamoring for our attention.

Constant signings of t-shirts and CDs.

Traveling the nation.

Seeing people blessed by our ministry.

Awesome.

My friend and a mentor of the team, Nate Ruch, spoke a powerful word to us at a Michigan camp that I will never forget – ‘They are only loving the mask’. What he was teaching us was that who we were was so much deeper than what all these people on tour could see. Yes, we had a CD, t-shirts, were a ‘premier’ traveling group, and were good-looking (well, some of us).

What mattered was not so much what they said, but what God said of us. Man sees the outward appearance…

Here’s my question for you: Who are you when you step off your public ministry platform? Do you love and serve your wife? Are you honest? Do you worship God with intensity when you are all alone? Are you pursuing a life that glorifies God? This is what matters.

What are your masks?

I am reading through I Kings today and was struck by these verses:

“Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, ‘You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.’ Solomon clung to these in love” (I Kings 11:1-2).

A wise, rich, blessed King of Israel…fallen.

“God, keep us from reading this verse and judging Solomon for his seeming stupidity. Instead, may we cry out with humility and desperation:

‘Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways’ (Psalm 119:35-36).

Amen.”

I was convicted this morning about the importance of reading the Bible. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But sometimes I don’t want to.

I would rather read a powerful, relevant book by a great author. I would rather listen to music.

I would rather go spend money on something.

I think the more you don’t read the Bible, the more you adopt the world’s value system.

I’ve noticed this in my own life. Spiritual matters don’t seem that important. Glorious truth about God doesn’t seem as powerful as it once was. Eternity seems like it may never come. Using a biblical word, one becomes worldly. Let me just say this to you:

There is nothing more relevant than the Word of God.

A.W. Tozer said, “We ought to learn to live in our Bibles”. The writer of Hebrews exhorts us to have our “powers of discernment trained by constant practice” (Hebrews 5:14). When we live outside the Word of God and simply go through our days, we are not being relevant to life. The Word of God keeps us truly relevant to reality. I don’t know about you, but I need to hear this today. I need Scripture to bear upon my heart every day or I lose focus. I think that’s why God said to meditate upon it day and night.

Do you agree?