After our softball game last night, I posed a question to the team. What is the difference between an actor who plays a ballplayer and a ballplayer? Their answers included "commitment," "passion," "heart," "practice," "discipline," "he thinks about ball all the time."

Then I followed it up with another. What is the difference between a religious person and a true follower of Jesus? There was a long pause and then someone said, "Heart, it comes from the heart. He wants to do it." I pondered aloud how he also said the same about a true ballplayer. That got the guys thinking and the same answers became obvious, "commitment," "passion," "heart," "practice," "discipline," "he thinks about God all the time."

Reading from Isaiah I saw some parallels with the Jews. They were quite religious. They were meticulous about their rituals and worship. But in Isaiah 1:13-14 God tells them how much he hates their religiousness. It was a facade, a charade that covered their hypocrisy. Outside their religious setting they did whatever they wanted.

• they cheated
• they lied
• they gossiped
• they took advantage of people
• they played around with sexual immorality

Basically they settled for meeting what they thought were the minimal requirements of their faith.  Instead, God sent trouble their way and urged them to come clean and be real. In Isaiah 1:18-20 God calls the religious people to reality.  Our faith has to be real, it has to permeate our entire lives, it has to involve "commitment," "passion," "heart," "practice," "discipline," and "constant thought."  If not, at the end of our lives we'll look back and admit that when it came to being a Christian ... we just played one on TV.