~~~ Romans 2:1-11 ~~~ Psalm 62 ~~~ Luke 11:42-46 ~~~
Woe to you Pharisees!
Jesus leaves out no one...not the Pharisees,
the scribes or the scripture scholars.
Nor does he leave us out either.
He addresses us with these same words of Woe.
We often take our spiritual life for granted...
becoming complacent with our own rituals and devotions.
I met a person who would not attend a retreat
because it would interfere with her
morning prayer practices.
She could not see the benefit of coming away by herself
to spend time with God.
She had convinced herself that what she
was doing was all that she needed.
Perhaps she was also patting herself
on the back because of her morning rituals.
The Pharisees and the scholars were very proud
of their position, knowledge, perceived wisdom,
and even their holiness.
They were living by their own standards...
not the standards of God.
Jesus goes out of his way to touch the lives of those he meets.
He models every day what it means to do good works.
The critics of the day had their heads
buried in their rules and regulations.
They were looking for those not keeping the rules and laws.
They ignored those who followed the rules and the laws.
You are like unseen graves over which
people unknowingly walk.
They took away the human love and compassion.
All that mattered to them was the prescribed laws.
Sometimes I ask if we have not done the same.
Have we gotten into a rut
by going through the motions
of being a good person?
Do we prefer to 'play it safe'?
Doing what we have always done;
letting the autopilot button of our life be in charge.
There is no partiality with God.
Jesus opened the gates of heaven to all.
It does not matter if you are a scholar
or the homeless man begging on the next corner.
Jesus tries to coax us out of our rut,
and when coaxing does not work
he tries a more direct technique.
Jesus was being very direct with the Pharisees
and the scholars, but most of them buried themselves
deeper into their cozy rut.
Not even nature is allowed to stay in a rut.
Maybe that is why God gave us the four seasons in a year.
If you stay in your self indulgent rut it is very unlikely
that you will advance in your relationship with God.
...there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone
who does good...
It will be better for you if you
take the necessary steps to climb out of
your rut yourself.
Search for your rut...examine it carefully...
climb out...change is possible.
You do not need to be defined by your personal rut.
This is exactly what happened to the Pharisees, scribes,
and the legal scholars of the time.
Follow Jesus...
he is not in the rut...
he is both constant and ever changing.
Woe to you...
Blessings to get out of the rut;
however long it may take.
~~~Peace~~~
No comments:
Post a Comment