Thursday; July 16
When Jesus came to the
earth, one of His tasks seems to have been to bring clarity to religion. Sure, there was godly religion (and had been
for centuries), but with the new movement came a refocus on what was important. Many of these principles are outlined in the
Sermon on the Mount. One of these
observations probably raised quite a few eyes.
When Jesus noted, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness
surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the
kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20) He may not have made many friends. What makes this so interesting is that some
of the most religious people of this society were thought to be the scribes and
Pharisees. They seemed to know the Law,
but they appear to be lacking in righteousness.
The may have sounded good … they may have looked good … but they just
weren’t good.
It is easy for us to
criticize the pseudo-religious of the First Century, but we need to make sure
that we are not following their lead.
First of all, we need to make sure we select good role models. Let’s not blindly follow those who claim to
be religious. Secondly, we need to make
sure we are doing what we are called to do, not just acting like it. It’s not enough to profess our religion, we
must possess true righteousness.
Think About It!