This May Shock You…God Is Not Impressed | Why Religious Activity Isn’t Enough

You can memorize every Bible verse, serve at every event, and give to every cause — but if your heart’s not in it, God isn’t impressed. In this powerful episode of Behind the Mike Podcast, Mike Stone challenges us to examine our motives, reset our faith, and return to authentic love for God over empty religious performance.

Through personal stories, relatable struggles, and biblical examples like Mary & Martha, the Pharisee & the tax collector, and King David, Mike unpacks the difference between doing things for God and being with God. Learn the warning signs of performance-based faith and discover practical ways to rekindle genuine intimacy with Him.

Key Scriptures:
Isaiah 29:13, Luke 18:9-14, Luke 10:38-42, Mark 10:17-22, Matthew 6, Psalm 51:16-17, Psalm 139:23-24

📌 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- How to know if your faith has slipped into performance mode
- Why private moments with God matter more than public ones
- Four warning signs your heart may be drifting
- How to reset your relationship with God today
- A simple weekly challenge to draw closer to Him

🎯 Whether you’re a lifelong believer, new to the faith, or burned out from church busyness, this episode will inspire you to stop striving and start abiding.

#GodIsNotImpressed #AuthenticFaith #ChristianPodcast #BehindTheMikePodcast #MikeStone #FaithOverPerformance #ChristianLiving #HeartOverWorks #BibleTeaching #spiritualgrowth

CHAPTERS:
00:00 – Global shoutouts & listener appreciation
01:07 – The uncomfortable truth: God isn’t impressed by religious resumes
02:04 – Why do you do what you do?
02:49 – My season as a “spiritual over-achiever”
03:23 – Isaiah 29:13 — honoring God with lips but not the heart
04:01 – Example 1: The Pharisee & the tax collector
04:33 – Example 2: Mary & Martha
04:52 – Example 3: The rich young ruler
05:10 – Example 4: David — a man after God’s heart
05:41 – Jesus’ teaching on private faith in Matthew 6
06:35 – Warning signs of performance-based faith
07:42 – Psalm 51 — God desires a contrite heart
08:14 – Reset step 1: Pray honestly
09:16 – Reset step 2: Spend time with God with no agenda
10:08 – Reset step 3: Serve in secret
11:00 – Reset step 4: Fast from recognition
11:27 – Returning to genuine love for God
11:58 – Psalm 139 prayer & weekly challenge

Transcript

0:02

Hey my friends, welcome to Behind the Mike Podcast. Grateful that you join me. And I just wanted to, happen to think of this before I started, and I thought, I'm going to shout out to some people, we've got people listening and watching from all over the world. So, all across the US, people listening and watching from the UK, from South Africa, from the Philippines and from Brazil, countries I haven't even heard of are showing up. So thank you guys for doing that. I also want to shout out to a couple regulars that I've just noticed off the top of my head are, somebody constantly listening to every podcast episode from Paris, France, and from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Thank you guys. Thank you for joining me. And, for just hanging in there with me, through this, this journey, I want to start today with something short and simple and maybe a little uncomfortable. You can memorize every scripture you can serve at every event. You can give to every cause. But if your heart's not in it, God's not impressed. He's not looking for religious resumes. He's looking for people who love him when nobody's watching. That's it. That's the thought. But if we let that sink in, it's it's huge because it forces us to stop and ask, why am I doing what I'm doing? Somebody posed that question to a group, whether it was a church, I don't know, an audience somewhere or why do you do what you do? And that really resonated with me. And I thought, why do I do what I do? From the simplest little habitual things that I do every day to, to the bigger things? Why am I doing what I'm doing? And that's the question that I want to pose to you today. Well, I've had seasons where my calendar looked like, spiritual over-achiever’s dream. Right? Sunday morning I was there midweek Bible study. Count me in. Serving on the tech team, helping with events, volunteering when something came up absolutely. From the outside, it probably looked like this dude's on fire for God, but on the inside I was tired. And honestly, my time with God was just on autopilot. I wasn't intentionally running from God, but I was so busy doing things for him that I wasn't actually spending much time with him. And that's the danger, because doing more can feel like being closer. But it's not always the same thing.

Isaiah 29: 3:08

13 puts it this way, itsays, “These people come near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” It's a warning. You can check all the boxes and still miss God entirely. Let's walk through some examples from Scripture. Number one, the Pharisee and the tax collector.

From Luke 18: 3:36

9-14, the Pharisee listed his religious accomplishment in prayer. The tax collector simply said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. And Jesus said, that man went home justified, not the one with the resume. Number two Mary and Martha.

From Luke 10: 4:04

38-42. Martha was serving. Mary was sitting at Jesus feet. Jesus said, Mary chose what is better? Serving matters, but not more than sitting with him. One that I think of an awful lot when I think about why I'm doing what I'm doing as the the rich young ruler

from Mark 10: 4:28

17-22, he kept all the commandments. He made that very clear. But he couldn't give Jesus his heart. And his heart was centered on his wealth. And then for David.

1 Samuel 13: 4:46

14. David wasn't perfect, far from it, but he was called“a man after God's heart.” God values authenticity over perfection. One of the biggest indicators of our love for God is what our faith looks like when no one else is watching. Jesus said in Matthew 6, when you give, don't make it a show. You have to let people know when you pray. Close the door. You don't have to be visible to everyone when you fast. Don't advertise it. God sees what happens in private. I've noticed in my own life some of my closest moments with God. They weren't on a stage or behind a microphone, or even in a church service. They weren't quiet moments. Things that I remember vividly from my past. Sitting in my car before work, praying, reading scripture in my bedroom before anyone else woke up, worshiping in my living room while the TV was off. Those moments don't get applause, and maybe that's the point. Here's some warning signs that you might be slipping into a performance based faith. You ready for this? Number one, your identity depends on your ministry role. Do you find the more important or visible ministry roles better define your identity? Number two, you get resentful if no one notices your service. This comes down to “why do I do what I do?” question are you truly serving the Lord? Or is it more about being recognized? Number three, you're doing spiritual disciplines out of habit, not hunger. I grew up in church, so we pray before meals and at bedtime we go to Sunday school. We don't work on Sundays. We serve others, especially in church. And the list goes on and on. And number four, you feel burnt out, but you keep going just because you should. Well, I've checked all of those boxes at some point, and every time God has to pull me back and remind me I didn't ask for your schedule. I just ask for your heart. Psalm 51, verse 16 and 17 says,“You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart,O God, you will not despise.” God wants authenticity. And here's how we can reset. Sometimes we have to do this often. Pray honestly. Don't try to impress him with the right words. I remember distinctly in high school we had a group from a local college come over. There were Christian ministry at the college and they came over to our youth group. And when we closed in prayer, we all held hands and stood in a circle. And these guys were so cool. You know why? Because I remember even at 15, 16 years old, that prayer was genuine. Those prayers were genuine. I remember we all laughed during the prayers because basically they were poking fun at themselves. You know, God, you know, I get so sidetracked. I forget about you sometimes. And, you know, everybody chuckled a little bit, but it's true. And what I learned from that is that's what God wants. They don't have to put fancy words behind it. Just be honest with them. Spend time with him. With no agenda. There have been so many times I travel a lot, and there have been so many times where I'm by myself. And I could pop the earbuds in, or I could, you know, listen to podcasts or music or whatever, or I could scroll on my phone. But what I love to do, especially on a longer drive, is just talk to God. Just spend time with him thinking, praying, singing, whatever that looks like. Not prepping for ministry, not checking boxes. Just spend time with him. Number three servant's secret and let him be the only one who knows. I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but there are times when the Holy Spirit just stirs something inside of me and prompts me to do something that really, maybe even out of character for me. But I just felt the prompting. And so I did something. Sometimes it's for somebody, but it's those times when you're done and you realize nobody saw that. And I could go on social media and post about it. Nothing wrong with that. But it's the times that I just walked away and kind of winked at God and said, thanks for that. Something different about that. Just doing something, following him, spending time with him, with nobody noticing. And number four, fast from recognition. Kind of what I just said. When something happens and the Holy Spirit prompts you to do something, you know, I'm on social media a lot. I've got this podcast. I've got my YouTube channel, my Facebook page, TikTok, you name it, I'm on it. I just want to share the gospel. But to be able to do things without recognition, that's really where it's at. That's where the joy really comes from. I don't do this for recognition. God called me to this and 2019. It's just a way to share my heart about him. And it's those times when the recognition doesn't come that I realize I'm doing it for the right reasons. How about you? Let's go back to the start. You can memorize every verse. That's great. I could serve at every event. Perfect. And you can give to every cause. Awesome. But if your heart's not in it, God's not impressed. He's not looking for perfect records. He's looking for genuine love. One of my favorite passages of scripture has been for years. Decades is Psalm 139. And Psalm 139. Verses 23 and 24 says, and this is my prayer. This is often my prayer.“Search me, O God. Test me. Know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting.” So here's the challenge this week. Do something for God that no one else will ever know about. Let Him be your only audience.