Friday Thought -- May 25, 2012

Good Morning Friends,

Jesus said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You give a tenth of your spices -- mint, dill and cummin.  But you have neglected the more important matters of the law -- justice, mercy and faithfulness.  You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.  You blind guides!  You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.  Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee!  First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.  Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (Matthew 23:23-28)

It’s easy to get caught up in the external things and ignore the internal things.  That’s what the Pharisees had done.  They got caught up in the law-keeping that could be seen:  tithing, praying in public, attending religious meetings, and other “religious duties.”  And they ignored the things of the heart:  justice, mercy, faithfulness, honesty.  Jesus compared them to people who worry and fret over the smallest impurity, but all the while are being defiled by major problems:  straining the gnat while eating the camel!

You see, Jesus knew that what is inside is far more important than what is outside.  The whole thrust of the Gospel is that we must take care of the matters of the heart.  And the truth is that if we take care of the matters of the heart they will work their way into every aspect of the way we live.

How often are you in church?  How do you worship?  What is your giving record?  In what way were you baptized?  The answers to those questions are absolutely meaningless, unless those things come out of your heart.  Take care of your heart first so that in the end you don’t hear the same horrible rebuke that the Pharisees received:  pretty on the outside, but rotten on the inside!

His, by Grace,

Steve