I was reading in my bible the other day in Matthew 23. Some of you may know what this passage talks about. In my bible it says the topic is..."Jesus Criticizes the Religious Leaders." As you read it talks about how they do everything for show. They wear extra wide prayer boxes with scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. All of this is done with the intention being to appear more spiritual. This was a huge problem back in the day, but I believe it is just as much of a problem today, as it was back then.
I would like to quote a passage of scripture from Matthew 23:
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear to be righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Just like the Pharisees in their day, we make the same mistake today! We go to church, because we know the people at church will wonder where we were, and they might question our spirituality...we pray overly wordy and long prayers, because it makes us appear to be spiritual...and the list goes on. I think you get the point I'm trying to make. The question we must ask ourselves, is..."what is my motivation for what I am doing?" or "do I have the right heart attitude about doing it." So often we allow our Christianity to become so much of a rote "religion" that we forget about the relationship that we are to have in our hearts with the Lord.
I would urge everyone to examine their lives. Look at what you do carefully, and make sure that you have the right God honoring motivation for your actions. Make sure you are doing what you are doing because you know it pleases the Lord, and you want to serve the Lord who died on the cross for your sins! What greater motivation can we have for our actions than that?
I would like to quote a passage of scripture from Matthew 23:
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear to be righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Just like the Pharisees in their day, we make the same mistake today! We go to church, because we know the people at church will wonder where we were, and they might question our spirituality...we pray overly wordy and long prayers, because it makes us appear to be spiritual...and the list goes on. I think you get the point I'm trying to make. The question we must ask ourselves, is..."what is my motivation for what I am doing?" or "do I have the right heart attitude about doing it." So often we allow our Christianity to become so much of a rote "religion" that we forget about the relationship that we are to have in our hearts with the Lord.
I would urge everyone to examine their lives. Look at what you do carefully, and make sure that you have the right God honoring motivation for your actions. Make sure you are doing what you are doing because you know it pleases the Lord, and you want to serve the Lord who died on the cross for your sins! What greater motivation can we have for our actions than that?
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MEG