The title of this blog is actually a quote from Oswald Chambers. I keep it on my desk. It sums up nicely the essence of Jesus teaching in today's reading. Jesus with force and directness calls out the religious leaders for their hypocrisy of teaching one thing but living another. He warns his followers to obey God's law when the leaders teach it, but not to live or desire to be as the Pharisees and other religious leaders actually lived. On the outside they had the appearance of "righteousness" and living a "good life," when in reality they held their own opinions higher than God's and they weighed the people down with these false teachings. On the inside, they were filled with greed, hate, unfaithfulness. Since this was the true condition of their life, they were stingy toward God when it came to worshipping Him through tithes and offerings and they regularly manipulated the people for their own selfish purposes. Jesus warns that these supposed righteous leaders will incur a stricter judgment. It is a good reminder to me: What we are on the inside, our heart attitudes and thoughts, will direct what we do on the outside, therefore, I desire God to show me daily the true state of my heart. I desire for Him to clean the inside of me first. When I invite Him to do that then the "outside" or my public life will reflect true righteousness. My "worth," to God will be seen as He is glorified by the actions of my life because my actions will match my words. Lord, always show me where I am living, "Do as I say and not as I do," and lead me to the place where I live and can say to others, "Do as I do."
No comments:
Post a Comment