“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”  Matthew 15:8

The bible verse above describes perfectly, what unseriousness with God is. As a wake-up call to the body of Christ; the church and believers all around the world, I think its high time this message is passed across. If we have been playing around before, it’s time to get serious with God. Kingdom business is serious business. God is in search of people who take matters of the spirit just as serious as He does.

To get serious with God means to leave everything behind to follow God. In the bible, when Jesus was picking out the disciples, for the few we were privileged to know about, when Jesus said “follow me” they left everything behind and followed Him immediately (Matthew 4:20). That is, they left out the worldly distractions and worries to follow Jesus. They were serious about His business, the calling to which they had received. I’m not telling you submit your resignation letter today or drop out of school right now because you want to get serious with God. Rather, see God’s business as much important than the concerns of this world. Maybe you are thinking “I have not been called so what is there to be serious about”. Brethren, this mantle is one handed to every believer at the point of salvation; the preaching of the gospel and proper representation of God for the advancement of His kingdom (Matthew 28:19-20 AMP; Philippians 2:12 AMP; Mark 16:15; John 15:12).

Perhaps you’re wondering “of what essence is it to be serious with God, I mean I already believe in Jesus as Savior so my salvation is secure”. Well, permit me to inform you that that is not enough. Matter of fact, it is a very risky thing to do. Taking the things of God with levity or with casualty is a major problem the church faces today. No one is talking about the need to have a strong and intact relationship with God and so many people easily get confused by the bible, feel disappointed when they don’t receive answers to certain prayers and in turn leave the church or worse, claim there is no God. Not until we start taking God seriously, we would never fully understand His ways. So, people would go through hardship and wonder why God isn’t coming through for them when they’ve basically turned Him to an emergency life-line that they only call when they’re in trouble. It should not be. King David in the bible was a man who was serious with God and God really used him to establish Israel. King Saul on the contrarily, wasn’t and so it didn’t come as a surprise to see how he later went into heresy and exposed Israel to destruction.

Furthermore, God hates lukewarmness. You believe there is God but you’re not interested in getting serious with Him, maybe when you’re 70 and you’ve lived your life, you’d consider getting to know Him better, you say. Beloved, you are joking! The Lord says He will spew such people out of His mouth (Revelations 3:16 AMP). Such people are spiritually useless. They are neither growing nor helping others grow. They are neither hot for Jesus nor bringing a refreshing coolness into the kingdom. God says He will severe such branches that bear no fruit, away (John 15:2). In fact, even if God doesn’t cut such a person away, he will still be broken away because such person becomes an easy target for the enemy. You cannot afford to be a borderline Christian or an “on-the-fence” Christian. In the days Jesus (over two thousand years ago) Scripture referred to those times as the last days. As my good friend would say, if they were in the last days then, we are surely in the last hours now. There is no time for joking around or playfulness. God delights in those who honor Him and if you don’t see things such as having a relationship with Him, studying the word, praying and fasting as important, how do you want to honor Him?

If people of the world cannot see any difference between you and them, then you are not yet serious with God. If you’re still finding it hard to pray, maybe you are working on it but I tell you, you are not yet serious with God. If that brother or sister that always talks about God still seems like “over-do” to you then you are not yet serious with God. We were made for this reason; to glorify God and preach Jesus to the world (Isaiah 43:21; Mark 16:15). So, if all these things still seem as “over-spirituality” to you, then you need to get serious with God. You cannot have one leg in Christ and the other in the world. You cannot be seated in heavenly places and seated with the scornful at the same time (Ephesians 2:6; Psalm 1:1). You cannot delight yourself in things of the world from Monday to Saturday only to come and post bible verses on Sunday, you are clearly still playing with God.   

Beloved, if you are really interested in getting serious with God, know this. Nothing screams “serious” than having a relationship with Him. The key to getting serious with God is having a relationship with Him. When you have a relationship with God, you learn to love Him more and when you love Him more, you trust Him more. When you trust Him more, you’d not want to do what would upset Him and the more you grow in your relationship with Him, the easier it is for you to serve Him better. A man or a woman in a relationship evaluates how far it can go and what that relationship can grow into by the seriousness of it. And a woman or a man knows how serious a person is with them when the person decides to take things further by grooming a relationship. So also, the more serious you are with God, the more your relationship with Him blooms and that blooming relationship in turn, helps you to get more serious with Him. So, it’s possible to be worker in church and still lack seriousness. It’s also possible to be a Minister’s child and still lack seriousness. Seriousness will only set in after you have purposed to have a relationship with Him, averting your eyes from worldly pleasures, taking Him as priority and seeing things from His own perspective. (see Colossians 3:1-2 MSG below)

“So, if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ — that’s where the action is. See things from His perspective” Colossians 3:1-2 MSG

P.S: if you are willing to give your life to Jesus Christ now, please say this prayer. “Lord Jesus I welcome you into my life today, I thank you for your death and your resurrection , I accept you as my Lord and saviour from now onwards, amen”. If you’re willing to rededicate your life to God, in a bid to get serious with Him, please say this prayer. “Dear God, i rededicate myself to you, to be used and set apart for your glory, in Jesus’ name, amen.”