Where it Counts
Scripture: matthew 23:27-28
27 "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness."
Observations:
Days before Jesus went to the cross, He delivered one of the most blatant indictments ever to the spiritual leaders of His day. His biggest complaint was not that they didn't study the bible, tithing, lack of prayer, worship attendance, or evangelistic campaigns. They were doing all the right things to look spiritual, but missing the entire point. After spending over three years dealing reglarly with prostitues, theives, and the worst "sinners", Jesus never even came close to rebuking any one of them the way He did the pharisees. What made the difference? Pride. The Pharisees had developed a system of beliefs that were totally inconsistent with the Law of God they claimed to understand. Instead of justice, mercy, and faith being the standard mode of operation, they focused more on doing all the right things rather than being righteous. They looked good on the outside but didn't have it on the inside where God says is the only place that really counts.
Application:
There's this unspoken tendency in church to elevate the external and neglect the internal. We think so long as we're making it a point to check off our list of spiritual things to do the we must be alright. But having a relationship with God is not about doing the right things by our own efforts to make sure we measure up to the external standards of man. It does, however, have everything to do with who you really are on the inside. No amount of external religious activity can ever make up for wrong attitudes and motives where God says it matters most. What happens on the inside is the determining factor of what happens on the outside and not vice versa. If our hearts, attitudes, and motives are pure, then the rest of our relationship with God will be also. But if not, no matter what we are doing on the outside, we too have missed the whole point.
Prayer:
Father, forgive us for making our relationship with You about us. Search our hearts today and cleanse us from every impurity and self righteousness. Give us clean hands and pure hearts again. Amen.
Daily Bible Reading Plan
27 "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness."
Observations:
Days before Jesus went to the cross, He delivered one of the most blatant indictments ever to the spiritual leaders of His day. His biggest complaint was not that they didn't study the bible, tithing, lack of prayer, worship attendance, or evangelistic campaigns. They were doing all the right things to look spiritual, but missing the entire point. After spending over three years dealing reglarly with prostitues, theives, and the worst "sinners", Jesus never even came close to rebuking any one of them the way He did the pharisees. What made the difference? Pride. The Pharisees had developed a system of beliefs that were totally inconsistent with the Law of God they claimed to understand. Instead of justice, mercy, and faith being the standard mode of operation, they focused more on doing all the right things rather than being righteous. They looked good on the outside but didn't have it on the inside where God says is the only place that really counts.
Application:
There's this unspoken tendency in church to elevate the external and neglect the internal. We think so long as we're making it a point to check off our list of spiritual things to do the we must be alright. But having a relationship with God is not about doing the right things by our own efforts to make sure we measure up to the external standards of man. It does, however, have everything to do with who you really are on the inside. No amount of external religious activity can ever make up for wrong attitudes and motives where God says it matters most. What happens on the inside is the determining factor of what happens on the outside and not vice versa. If our hearts, attitudes, and motives are pure, then the rest of our relationship with God will be also. But if not, no matter what we are doing on the outside, we too have missed the whole point.
Prayer:
Father, forgive us for making our relationship with You about us. Search our hearts today and cleanse us from every impurity and self righteousness. Give us clean hands and pure hearts again. Amen.
Daily Bible Reading Plan
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