Daily Devotional For Saturday, June 27, 2026
Good morning Southside! Our daily devotional for today comes from Hosea 10:1-4:
“How prosperous Israel is— a luxuriant vine loaded with fruit. But the richer the people get, the more pagan altars they build. The more bountiful their harvests, the more beautiful their sacred pillars. (2) The hearts of the people are fickle; they are guilty and must be punished.The LORD will break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. (3) Then they will say, “We have no king because we didn’t fear the LORD. But even if we had a king, what could he do for us anyway?” (4) They spout empty words and make covenants they don’t intend to keep. So injustice springs up among them like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field” (NLT).
This sounds very much like America today and the American church today. We live in a country where wealth, opulence, extravagance and prosperity is everywhere. Even though on our money it says, “In God we trust,” the truth is – it’s in money and success we trust. We look at the success of companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Ford, General Electric, Walmart and Amazon, and we admire their success. We look at megachurches and their size and think, “What a successful church,” without even knowing how that success came.
All of us should heed the warning of Jesus in Luke 12:16-21 about building bigger barns. If you go to any book store, you will be overwhelmed at the number of books on anxiety, money, relationships, and adversity. But you will see few, if any books on the dangers of success. Why? In the Mosaic Law, God warned His people about the dangers of success (see Deut. 8:11-14). It was success that destroyed the wisest man in the Old Testament – Solomon. He starts out wise but ends us and dies in folly, foolishness and idolatry.
In Hosea 10:1, altars were built, probably to God but over time they came to be used as altars to Baal for economic reasons. Altars to Baal were very profitable for Israel. We see churches today that are no different. Old Testament scholar Paul R. House writes this:
“We live in a money-motivated, consumer-driven culture. Many of our American churches are luxurious. Many of them are as spacious as shopping centers and as well-equipped as spas. We often market our churches the same way some businesses market their goods. What is in our hearts that would motivate us to spend so much money on ourselves? It is possible that we wish to minister effectively. It is also possible that we build expensive things because our hearts value them most. What if we did not have these things or the other things that make our lives comfortable and enjoyable? Would we turn away from God? We should ask ourselves if we give to God because we want a good return on our gift or if we rightly give God what already belongs to him. None of us has pure motives all the time. Still, examining our hearts might lead us to cleanse our desires more fully. It might lead us to change before God finds it necessary to take sterner measures to change us” (Source; Paul Rl House, Preach The Word Bible Commentary, The Minor Prophets: Seek the Lord and Live, p. 71).
In this passage in Hosea, God’s people are without a king, something that does not bother them. They are also without God, something that does not bother them. God has never defined success as bigger buildings, bigger staff, tons of money in the bank for a church or thousands coming to a church. If this were not true, then God would be very content with the “health and wealth” pastors and their churches.
For the record, He is not. Numbers do not impress God in terms of success. On Palm Sunday, thousands waved palm branches praising Jesus as the Messiah and then 5 days later on Good Friday, those same thousands shouted, “Crucify Him!” The prophet Hosea was learning a hard lesson with God’s people – we are fickle.
Success to God is not numbers, but obedience. It is not the numbers in the pews in a church, but those who are committed disciples making disciples. I have been to some megachurches where it is like walking through a mall. It is impressive but it is also depressive. I know people who go to these churches but there is no holiness, godliness or righteousness in their lives. For example, they will party and get drunk on the weekends; or they live with someone they are not married to; or they have a potty mouth.
Having the appearance of godliness does not mean you are godly. It could indicate that they or you are more caught up in the “dog and pony” show than in seeking first God’s kingdom and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33. It could indicate they are failing “to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). Jesus was never impressed by the outward appearance and the success of the religious leaders in His day. In fact, He was very critical and condemning of them.
For many of these megachurches, it is “show time” every weekend. They have the lights, lasers, smoke, a rock band and a watered-down sermon. Their people get entertained and feel they have been to a very successful worship service. We can honor God with our lips and our hearts still be far from God (see Isa. 29:13; Matt. 15:8; Mark 7:6). It could indicate that outwardly we look successful but inwardly we are failing to obey Jesus in Matthew 22:37-40. We can look outwardly successful but our hearts are far from the Lord (Matt. 5-7). We can look outwardly successful by taking up our Bibles to church without ever taking up our cross in our character (Luke 9:23).
Reflection Assignment: When it comes to spiritual success, how do you define it? Would you say you are spiritually successful? Why or why not? Think of the top Christians you admire. Would you say they are successful? Why or why not?
Scripture To Meditate On: 2 Timothy 3:5, “There are people who appear to be godly, but they are not. Why? They are all for show. They deny God’s power to change them more into His character. Avoid such people” (PAR).
Prayer To Pray: “Lord, help me to be inwardly successful with denying myself, taking up my cross and following You. Please forgive me when I put on a little “dog and pony show” to give the illusion that I am a successful Christian. I don’t want to show me; I want to show You. Help me to shine Your light, not mine in this dark and sinful world. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly