READING:
One-year plan: Matthew 23-24
Two-year plan: Lamentations 3:27-66, Hebrews 11:1-10
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It’s easy to condemn the Pharisees and teachers of the law of Jesus’ day. Though not all were this way, some were legalistic and arrogant. Certainly, they are a primary target of Jesus in today’s reading. They followed some laws to the nth degree, but then they missed the weightier matters of “justice, mercy, and faithfulness” (Matt 23:23). Jesus even called them all a “brood of vipers” (Matt 23:33).
Lest we condemn them too quickly, though, we’re forced through today’s text to evaluate our own life. Is it possible that these words about the teachers of the law and the Pharisees describe us at all?
- “So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach” (Matt 23:3)
- “They love the place of honor at banquets . . . to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others” (Matt 23:6-70
- They “appear to people as righteous but on the inside . . . are full of hypocrisy and wickedness” (Matt 23:28)
I’ve been there, especially as a younger and undiscipled believer (as have many of us). I realize, though, that the danger of hypocrisy is never only a past-tense danger. With every day comes the possibility of “play acting.” Only God’s grace restores us from hypocrisy, and only His grace keeps us from going there again.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Is there any hypocrisy in your life?
PRAYER: “Show me my heart, God, as You see it.”
TOMORROW’S READING:
One-year plan: Matthew 25-26
Two-year plan: Lamentations 4-5, Hebrews 11:11-24
MEMORIZATION VERSE (October 1-15)
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1)
